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Although the Harvard campus has come back to life this fall as students and faculty return to classes in person, one defining presence at Harvard Yard remains elusive: tourists and prospective students.
As Harvard gates remain closed to unaffiliated people and the coronavirus spreads, Harvard tour groups continue to run modified tours, virtually or on restricted paths around campus.
The College first restricted in-person visits – which were generally free and open to all visitors – at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, when students left campus to learn remotely.
The Harvard Visitor Center will continue to suspend official in-person tours due to continuing concerns about Covid-19. Although it declined to comment when it plans to resume in-person tours, the center said it will launch virtual tours later this month.
Other tourist groups have had to change their policies to adhere to the College’s new protocols.
The Crimson Key Society – a student organization whose members lead Harvard’s official historical tours – organized three tours a day on weekdays and on the Saturdays before the pandemic, according to its president, Charles D. “Davis” Bailey ’22.
Since then, the Crimson Key Society has organized in-person tours for first-year orientation students and visiting scholars through the Harvard Marshal’s office, but tours for the general public remain prohibited.
Although organized group tours to Harvard Yard are prohibited due to coronavirus precautions, Trademark Tours – an agency known for its ‘Hahvahd’ tour which merge with Harvard student agencies – arranges in-person walking tours around Harvard Square.
Trademark Tours CEO Daniel A. Bodt ’07 wrote in an email that Trademark Tours has taken precautions against Covid -19 during its in-person visits.
“We’ve added headphones that connect wirelessly to a tour guide microphone. This allows clients to practice social distancing and prevents the guide’s voice from straining when wearing a mask, ”he wrote. “We also limited the size of the group and encouraged the wearing of masks based on city and state regulations. “
While Bodt said Trademark Tours has yet to hear from Harvard on when the Yard will reopen to tour groups.
Crimson Key Society tour coordinator Kathryn L. Hodakowski from 22 to 23 said the organization is currently working with the reception center to resume tours once restrictions are lifted.
“As Harvard College ambassadors, it is crucial to our identity and our organization that we want to spread our love and joy of being students at Harvard with others,” said Hodakowski, who has led tours before. the pandemic. “I think it helps a lot to interact with the students and share their personal experiences.”
Bailey said he believes in-person visits are important in introducing Harvard to potential students as well as the “outside world.”
“There is a long history that this place is a bastion of academic elitism – and, as such, a lot of people hear about Harvard, and they have that picture which at this point is not very precise.” , Bailey said. “So we’re really trying to dispel some of these preconceptions that people might have.”
Bailey said he believes Harvard should be “a welcoming, open and accessible place for people who are not yet or have never affiliated with the school.”
“In-person visits are a vital piece of this puzzle, and I hope they can return soon,” he added.
– Editor Vivi E. Lu can be contacted at [email protected].
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