Fadiman said that Procrustes's bed is a good metaphor for the culture wars because people nowadays are expected to choose one of two ideologies.
Fadiman said that people who choose to identify themselves as either liberal or conservative, without the chance for overlap, end up limiting themselves.
"You sign up to toe the party line, and you suddenly find you've lost the ability to judge things on a case by case basis," said Fadiman, who is the editor-designate of The American Scholar, a journal published by the National Phi Beta Kappa Society.
"No one who teaches, writes and researches will ask you to take sides," she added. "But you will find that as you cut off the toes of others, like Procrustes, you cut off your own as well."
Engell said that both speakers kept with the mission of the honor society.
"Muldoon was passionate, powerful and moving," he said. "And the oration's message of 'don't simplify' addressed the important message of intellectual independence."
Others said that Muldoon and Fadiman represented the academic environment that Harvard provides its students.
"It was a truly fitting ceremony," said Patricia C. Clark, Clark's mother.
"I've never heard such a wonderful use of words. If the students are around this all the time, I can see why they come out the way they do," she said.
Yesterday's literary exercises also honored individuals outside the graduating class.
Three members of the Faculty--Stanley Cavell, the Cabot professor of aesthetics and the general theory of value; David Layzer, Menzel professor of astrophysics; and Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of history of science--were granted honorary membership in the society.
Three members of the 25th reunion class of 1972 were given the same honor--Thomas F. Birminghman '72, a state senator since 1970; Jamie Shona Gorelick '72, former U.S. deputy attorney general and current vice chair of the Fannie Mae corporation; and Elizabeth A. Kellogg '72, associate professor of biology and Putnam fellow at the Arnold Arboretum.
Muldoon and Fadiman were also honorarily inducted.
In addition to the honorary memberships, the chapter recognized four professors for their demonstrated excellence in teaching.
Graham Huggan, associate professor of English and American literature and language and of history and literature; Brian J. Hall, assistant professor of economics; Colleen M. Cavanaugh, professor of biology; and Daniel L. Schacter, professor of psychology, were commended for their dedication to their students and specifically their thesis advisees.
"I can only hope to bring to my work the same wit and enthusiasm that Professor Schacter brings to his," wrote the student who nominated Schacter, recalling one Saturday morning when Schacter delayed a family outing in order to deliver his comments on the student's thesis drafts personally.
Seniors and their parents said the ceremony was a fitting way to celebrate their achievements.
"I am incredibly proud, even though I didn't do the homework," said Richard Pepp, father of newly-inducted Jessica A. Pepp '97. "I like to see teachers honored for good teaching and students honored for good learning."