Nancy Sinsabaugh '76, treasurer of the Associate Board, says the organization is "well-endowed" but refused to disclose the size of the endowment.

"I'd call it comfortable," said Dennis.

Teatime and Teddybears

Like most long-lived Harvard institutions, the Signet Society has a extensive set of traditions and rituals passed down through the years.

Perhaps the most constant of these traditions is the weekly Friday afternoon tea hosted by student members. The host receives $40 from the club and is free to spend as much as he or she wants on the tea.

One such event this year cost over $100, Madden says, but students say there is no pressure to spend over the allotted amount.

Many of the teas have themes: one this year was based on the works of British author Evelyn Waugh and featured a teddy bear named Aloysius and strawberries and champagne, details taken from Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

Other theme teas have centered on childhood--serving chocolate chip cookie dough and ladyfingers--and comfort food.

One of the club's most intricate rituals is its election procedure. The person being elected must give a display of his or her most notable accomplishment, whether it is playing a musical instrument, reciting poetry or showing a sculpture.

New members receive roses, which they are supposed to press between the pages of a book and to return to the Signet when their first works are recognized or published.

The Society still displays the roses of luminaries such as T.S. Eliot '09, who was a club member during his time at Harvard.

Initiation ceremonies conclude with the passing of a large silver bowl known as "the loving cup" from person to person, with each taking a sip.

The Signet also enjoys a longstanding relationship with Yale University's Elizabethan Society. The two groups host parties for one another following the Harvard-Yale football game and compete in a croquet match each year.

The club holds three annual events, a Christmas party, banquet and "Strawberry Night," a spring party hosted by the undergraduates.

An annual spring banquet, put on by the Associate Board, is the year's biggest event. Celebrity alumni like Walburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith can usually be relied on to appear, and the evening always features a distinguished guest who is awarded the Signet's medal of achievement.