But the event's timing makes it ideal for attracting new members into the various Mexican student associations. At the main entrance to the Johnson Athletic Center, members of the Boston University Mexican Association (BUMA) were asking attendees to sign in and list their e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

"This type of event helps us a little with membership," says BUMA Treasurer Adrian Franco. "But it also helps us to learn about Boston's Mexican community--not only those who are studying here."

Several Harvard first-years attending the event said they felt the push to get involved and signed up on the list to hear about future Mexican and Mexican-American student events.

"I'm not too involved here yet," says Christopher A. Hunter '01, "but I was encouraged by this."

"[This event] was emotionally provoking," adds Jeffrey R. De Soto '01, who heard about the celebration from a friend at MIT.

The Independence Day celebration held special significance for Consul General Vasconcelos, who was a student at Harvard in the 1960s and has seen great changes in the area's Mexican community.

"When I was here, I was the only Mexican in Harvard College," Vasconcelos says. "There was not a single Mexican restaurant in Boston."

"I think a conscious effort has been made to include more non-Americans [at Harvard]," he says.

According to Vasconcelos, the Mexican government recently upgraded the Boston consulate, in recognition of the size of the Mexican community here.

"They are very much aware that there are more Mexicans at top universities in the United States," he says.