"The Genetics Institute has generated 400 jobs in Cambridge, in part from the fact that Harvard is here," he says.

"We and MIT attract people that stay in Cambridge and incubate research companies," says O'Neill. "The University attracts a lot of research money which in turn employs people."

Another example of Harvard's ties to the corporate world is the Polaroid Corporation, which grew out of Harvard in 1930. As a Harvard student, Edwin H. Land invented a type of plastic filter that polarizes light and later founded the company.

Noted Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius founded. The Architects' Collaborative, the firm that has designed Copley Place and many other projects. At the time of the founding, Gropius was serving as dean of the Graduate School of Design. Because of his affiliation with the University, he wanted to stay in Cambridge, says Elizabeth M. Pietrzak, a marketing assistant with the company.

The University also helps the other employees in the city by sharing its scholarship with the public schools.

The University's support for the Cambridge school system includes the Graduate School of Education's Contant Fellowship program, where public school teachers and administrators are given the chance to work toward advanced degrees at the school. Other efforts range from a Principals' Center to a reading center and writing courses taught by the Expository Writing Department.

"I'm very pleased about Harvard's support of Cambridge's public schools," says Wolf, a former School Committee member.

Since a large number of Cambridge residents work for the University, city officials occasionally thrust themselves into Harvard's internal labor disputes. This spring, the City Council became involved in the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers' (HUCTW) fight to unionize the University's support staff. The Council passed a resolution in March that supported the would-be union and urged the University not to conduct a campaign against HUCTW.

The Councillors said at that time that it was important for the city to take an interest in Harvard's role as an employer.

"It's important that the city have good labor relationships at its largest employer, Harvard," Councillor David E. Sullivan said in March. "If we have labor strife at Harvard, it's going to spill over into the city of Cambridge--and that's not good for anyone."

While the city has been able to take an interest in Harvard issues that effect Cambridge residents, it sometime finds that providing services and inspecting such a large institution is more than it can handle.

According to state law, all buildings of public assembly are required to have safe methods of egress and city authorities are responsible for enforcing these codes. But because Harvard is so large--it includes more than 240 buildings--Cambridge's two inspectors are not up to the task.

Instead, an "informal, working agreement" exists between the University and Cambridge inspectional services by which the city gives the university the responsibility of ensuring several hundred buildings meet state safety codes. Under this arrangement, Cambridge officials conduct routine fire inspections accompanied by Harvard officials.

But this informal arrangement has proved problematic. This spring a small child fell through a Carpenter Center railing that a state inspector had cited as unsafe in 1985.

Thus, even though Cambridge is officially in charge of making sure that Harvard provides a safe working environment for its employees, the city struggles to cope with such a large entity.