Ryan, who has been charged with the task of recommending a monitoring policy to President Neil L. Rudenstine and the Corporation, has come under fire from student activists for not committing to a specific timetable.
PSLM has held demonstrations for more than a year urging Harvard to join the WRC.
But Ryan said he must gather as much information as possible before reaching a decision, and that last night's panel would contribute to his decision.
"We're making a policy that may be in place for 20 years, so I want to take the time to do it right," he said.
Near the end of the discussion, Ballinger spoke about his personal experiences visiting factories in Indonesia and praised students for their work in helping to create the WRC, which held its opening conference earlier this month.
He said students, through their activism, had "demonstrated to administrators across the country that they were serious--serious enough to sit through endless meetings."