Thesis Writers Share Passion For Cows, China

It isn't every day eight Harvard students sit around and talk about cattle.

But, led by Scott M. Schechter '99-'00, who spent almost a year on a Wyoming ranch, they did.

The informal lecture and discussion, held in the Eliot House Junior Common Room last Tuesday, kicked off this year's the Eliot House Soap Box Society, an organization founded last spring by John S. Park.

Park, a House government tutor, created the society to help make Harvard students more comfortable presenting their ideas, especially their senior theses, to a group.

"Being in front of a large audience is a different ballgame altogether," Park said.

Schechter's speech, entitled "Fenced In: The Legacy of the Cattle Kingdom in America," follows the idea of his own thesis and traces the rise and fall of huge cattle ranches in the 1880s.

Each Tuesday at 9 p.m., one student assumes the soap box, standing up in front of other members of the Society and giving an informal presentation on a particular topic.

An audience-driven question and answer session following each speech gives speakers the opportunity to hear criticisms of the quality of their thesis ideas and the effectiveness of their presentations.

"The hallmark of a good public speech is if it can convey good esoteric ideas to a public audience," Park said.

Other speech topics have ranged from health care in China to the role of international organizations after the Cold War.

Although most speakers discussed topics related to their theses, Park says the society welcomes all students, especially those in Eliot, to speak on whatever they wish.

"We're trying to get a core firmly established in Eliot," Park said. "Once the core is there, then we'll move out from there."