In fact, most students--including some in EliotM-entry--don't even know what the society is.
Regardless of this, most who have had contactwith the society praise its importance. "Itjustifies itself as a very important recruitingground for [Harvard's] faculty," Gleason said.
Lamont University Professor Amartya Sen, whowas a prize fellow of Trinity College and iscurrently a senior fellow, cites the flexibilityof the program as the most beneficial aspect ofthese fellowships for those involved.
Sen, whose formal training is in economics, isa professor in both the departments of economicsand philosophy at Harvard.
"It was only as a prize Fellow at Trinity thatI had the opportunity to take interest in otherthings," Sen said. "You are given the freedom todo what you like."
For Sen this meant philosophy, a subject whichhas become a life-long passion for him.
Ironically, the 61-year-old society may be oneof the best examples of the interdisciplinaryapproach learning advocated recently by PresidentNeil L. Rudenstine.
Sen praises the interdisciplinary discussionwhich the Society fosters. "I regard it asextremely important to be able to communicate withpeople not in your field," he said.
Many junior fellows explore new fields while atHarvard, but few go as far as one recent fellowwho took advantage of his new freedom to dedicatehimself to chess. The fellow reportedly has goneon to compete in national chess tournaments.
Stephen Dao-Hui Hsu, a current junior fellowstudying theoretical physics, says that, forscientists at least, the program is similar tobeing a post-doctoral student at any other school.
What makes the program special, Hsu says, isthe "opportunity to get to know the other juniorfellows."
In his president's report for the 1957-58academic year, Nathan M. Pusey '28 gave anassessment of the society that may still applytoday:
"It seems an understatement to say that theidea which sprang from the minds of men likePresident Lowell and Professors Henderson,Whitehead, and Lowes, has had influence of greatsignificance in American higher education, even ifit has not resulted in an example of how tocircumvent the rigidity of doctoral requirementsas President Lowell had hoped."