While some students have speculated that actress Jennifer Lopez will be honored as Cultural Artist of the Year at this Saturday's Cultural Rhythms performance festival, still other students involved with the show said the rumors are unsubstantiated.

Kenneth N. Ebie '01, co-chair of the Harvard Foundation's student advisory committee (SAC), said the rumors started after a meeting with Foundation Director S. Allen Counter.

"I along with a bunch of other students thought it was Jennifer Lopez after a meeting with Counter, but I found out that he tends to do that to throw people off," Ebie said.

"The people who know are doing a really good job of keeping it a secret," Ebie added.

Margaret C. Anadu '03, who is also involved in planning the Cultural Rhythms event, said that "there is definitely a confirmed host or hostess," but that Counter has kept the honoree's identity to himself.

Anadu said she expects Counter to announce the host's identity Wednesday or Thursday.

Co-Stage Manager Ada J. Maxwell '02 confirmed that Lopez had been nominated for the Cultural Artist of the Year Award along with musicians Bono and Lauryn Hill. But Maxwell stressed that any student can nominate any artist for the award.

The list of nominees is passed on to a committee comprised of students and Faculty, which narrows down the list before passing it on to Counter.

Counter then determines which artists are available to host Cultural Rythms.

Past hosts have included Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon, Class of 1992, Will Smith and Halle Berry, all of whom were honored in 2000, 1999 and 1998, respectively.

The approximately 1,000 tickets for this year's Cultural Rhythms sold out last week with little fanfare. Students without tickets can see many of the Sanders Theatre acts in a second show at Lowell Lecture Hall.

Anadu said the second show will offer more excitement than last year's.

"Last year we kind of went through and put the biggest acts on the mainstage and the other acts in the second show, but this year we're doing more of a mixture to spice things up," Anadu said.

The second show will also feature a student host, whom Anadu said would be announced today. The student acts will be announced mid-week.