Students left at Harvard plan to take advantage of this unusual tranquility by studying and sleeping.

"It looks like I'm going to catch up on a lot of my reading," Kim said. "Although I don't want to fit the typical mold of a Harvard student who stays at school during the holiday to study, this is the price I have to pay for slacking off."

Some faculty members have decided to open their tables to students who are without family for the holiday.

For instance, Penelope A. Ellard, a teaching fellow in Computer Science 50, "Introduction to Computer Science I," will continue what has become a tradition by inviting her class to join her family for Thanksgiving dinner.

"It's just a bummer to be alone for Thanksgiving," she said. "We enjoy cooking, so why not cook for a bunch of students who would not have a home-cooked meal otherwise?"

Many of the students who will remain at school, though, are international students who do not have a history of Thanksgiving with their families to miss.

"It's my impression that Thanksgiving does not hold as much emotional attachment for international students as it does for students from the United States," said Michelle L. Hewitt, assistant to the master of Mather House.