Michigan native Linda L. Lopez says that the combination of the University, its architecture and the many area shops brought her to Harvard Square.

"I just wanted to see the Square, and I'd heard about 'Pahk your cah in Hahvahd Yahd,'" Lopez says.

Not all visitors are "pure" tourists, visiting as part of a nonworking trip--many are here for a seminar, conference or workshop run by a University school or affiliate. Others are attached to high school students on college tours.

"If you are looking for a job in Buenos Aires, and you have a degree from Harvard, you're probably going to get the job, because people will say 'you went to Harvard, maybe you are smart,'" says Dr. Carlos G. Fernandez, an Argentine bank official attending a seminar at the Kennedy School of Government.

Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70, whose office sends thousands of prospective students on tours every summer week, says that her office has become an unofficial tourist bureau for 'admissions tourists.'

"We want to have an influence on them--impress is not really the word," Lewis says. "We want to familiarize them with how beautiful and wonderful [Harvard] is."

In Harvard Yard last week, Frank J. and Geri R. Caspers of Philadelphia said they were motivated to visit the Yard by a far simpler event--the tour bus stopped.

"Hey, we got off the bus," Geri Caspers said.

"That's right. We got off the bus and rubbed the toe," her husband added referring to an age-old myth that rubbing John Harvard's toe will bring luck.

The Logistics

Tourists coming into Harvard Square are funneled through channels official and private. Prospective students come into Lewis' office in Byerly Hall and are treated to the ubiquitous information session before setting off on a student-led tour.

Huppe says the News Office is expanding its space in Holyoke Center in the hopes of attracting unattached tourists.

"We're transforming the arcade to be more of a gateway to the University," Huppe says. He says plans for expansion include more publications, a Harvard history timeline and online resources.

"People come to Harvard Square and don't know where Harvard is," he says. "Harvard has a legitimate interest in the way people are welcomed."

Independent tour operators, with whom Huppe says the University has "virtually no" connection, account for the largest groups of tourists to visit campus.