Is the Met Museum’s Admission Sign Misleading?
NY Times’ Randy Kennedy on this question, and on why the lawsuit against the Met alleging it has no legal authority to charge a suggested admission fee, was unlawful, was dismissed.
Of interest, and here I agree with Donn Zaretsky, the interesting part of the lawsuit remains.
Under the ruling, another part of both cases, alleging that the museum misrepresents itself, misleading visitors — through signage and website information — into thinking they must pay the full $25 fee, will proceed before the court.
The Met should just fix this through extra-legal means instead of taking the risk of having a judicial order mandating that the signage be bold and loud so as to lead most visitors to simply pay a penny. On that note, judge Kornreich was a bit misleading when she wrote that,
“For those without means, or those who do not wish to express their gratitude financially, a de minimis contribution of a penny is accepted,” the judge wrote. “Admission to the Met is de facto free for all.”
A hundred pennies is a dollar, and one-thousand pennies is ten dollars, so, with all due respect to the judge, it’s not quite free.
Tags: admission policies, Art Law, language, metropolitan museum, museums, new york city, new york state, nonprofits, signs
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