A Times critic found Gates’s minimizing of Lanier’s claim inexplicable

Evidence

Sehgal too finds it “odd,” writing, “In his introduction, Gates downplays Lanier’s connection to Renty…. Why would Lanier’s claim threaten the ‘pondering’ and protection of the pictures? What does he imagine Lanier has in mind for them?” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1242

Categorization

• QUESTION: Sehgal’s question — what does the institution imagine the descendant would do? — remains unanswered by Harvard and worth excavating as a core mystery of the case.