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[[underlined]] Policy on Public and Congressional Information [[/underlined]]

The Regents discussed a news reporter's protest that meetings of the Board are not open to the press. Earlier discussions on this subject were recalled, and it was noted that similar practice is followed at the Metropolitan Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Kennedy Center, Howard University, and Gallaudet College. The staff wll prepare a report on the history of the Regents' consideration of the matter, the relevance of the "Sunshine Act," and an analysis of current practices for dissemination of information to the press. The report will be reviewed by the Executive Committee before submission to the Regents.

[[underlined]] Status Reports [[/underlined]]

The Secretary outlined the following status reports which had been distributed in advance of the meeting: 

Personnel
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action 
Other Major Construction Project
Legislation
Litigation
Management of Front Royal Deer Population
Sale of the Beatles' Rolls Royce
Television

[[underlined]] Regents' Dinner [[/underlined]]

The traditional Regents' dinner was held in Charles Blitzer's honor on Sunday evening, January 23, 1983, in the Great Hall of the National Portrait Gallery and the Lincoln Gallery of the National Museum of American Art. After dinner the Secretary greeted the Regents and guests and presented to Mr. Blitzer the Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, along with a citation which read as follows:

CHARLES BLITZER

Appointed in 1968 as the Smithsonian's first Assistant Secretary for History and Art, you proceeded with style and intuition to chart a path fraught with uncertainty in a perilous world. While scientists may glory in elegant solutions to recondite problems, you managed to lead us on a triumphant path through the tares and thistles of humanistic enterprise, solving problems of painful minutiae as well as philosophical concepts with elegance. In your self you are humane and your gentility coupled with humility surmounts all obstacles. This Institution and your abounding friends here delight in presenting to Charles Blitzer, as an earnest of our indebtedness, the Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service.