Lu Yun, an assistant researcher at the Academia's Institute of Economics who spent a year at Harvard as a visiting scholar, says that offering so many out-of-the-way subjects is the best way for a well-heeled private university like Harvard to contribute to the academic world.
曾以「訪問學者」身分在哈佛研究一年的中研院經濟研究所副研究員陸雲也認為，哈佛冷門科系多，正是財力雄厚的私立學校「回饋」學術界的最佳方式。