Never before has the globe had such a big occasion to party.

The hype swirling around Rockin' Eve 2000 -- concerts, dream vacations from Barbados to Giza--has put much of America in a tizzy to find something big to commemorate the split second that heralds the new year.

But in typical Harvard fashion, it is coursework, tradition and cash that will define the soon-to-be night to remember here in Cambridge.

AT CAMPAIGN'S END

While University officials say they do not have specific plans set to commemorate the new year, administrators will don their millennial party hats at a May 2000 fete, marking the end of the ongoing $2.1 billion capital campaign.

University Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 says this celebration will be "built off of the success of [the capital] campaign," but emphasized that its purpose would not only be to hail successful fundraising.

"It's not just a celebration of the end of a capital campaign...but the program is going to be an opportunity to take stock of where the University stands at the start of a new millennium," Fineberg says.

Even Commencement 2000 promises to boast a millennial theme.

Both University Marshal Richard M. Hunt and Commencement Director Grace A. Scheibner see next spring's Commencement as a prime time to celebrate Harvard's rich history while greeting the new millennium.

Both alluded to the possibility of integrating historical remembrances into the traditional Commencement ceremony--not altering the ceremony, but simply "adding on a little," Scheibner says.

"We might try to recreate the revelry and merrymaking of the first Harvard Commencement, when all the townspeople attended the ceremony," she says.

Scheibner hinted that some participants in Commencement might dress in clothes typical of the 1600s; the first Harvard Commencement took place on September 23, 1642.

AROUND THE WORLD

For those not content to celebrate the year 2000 from just one exotic location, Harvard University Museum of Cultural and Natural History is offering a "Around the World Millennium Expedition"--planning to whisk its voyagers from Easter Island to Western Samoa and on to Timbuktu, Mali with New Guinea and Tanzania in between.

For a mere $44,950, an adventurer can chart the globe in a Boeing 757 with 87 other passengers, enjoying the best in food and wine.