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Two days before the 4th of July, Jordan C. Jones ’07 and Daniel A. Schofield-Bodt ’07—the guides of The Unofficial Hahvahd Tour—arrived at the Out of Town News stand in Harvard Square, where they found a crowd of about 15 would-be tourists standing around an American flag.
Just as they had been doing each day at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 2 p.m. for more than a month, Jones and Schofield-Bodt headed towards the yard, leading the group that by the end of the 70-minute tour would grow to more than 50.
When they explained the three lies of John Harvard, the crowd reacted with the usual, polite ooh’s and ahh’s of a Harvard tour.
But they got the greatest response out of the crowd when they told them about the taboo traditions and nuggets of trivia that don’t normally showcase in an official Harvard tour—like the Primal Scream tradition, or Timothy Leary’s LSD experiments.
The two rising seniors became motivated to start their project when they learned Harvard would not offer summer tours until June 24.
They initially lacked money and housing, but nonetheless moved forward with giving tours of the richest university in the world and its historic buildings.
“We started out with zero capital and homemade signs,” said Jones.
“For the first two weeks...because there was no housing here [immediately following move-out], we were living out of my car,” Schofield-Bodt added.
During the tour, Jones and Schofield-Bodt placed significant emphasis on the visual—discussing the architectural styles of the yard buildings and playing up photo opportunities.
“Our route is almost twice as long” as the official tour, Schofield-Bodt said. “We make a concerted effort to give tourists the best vantage points of the yard,” he added.
Despite its “unofficial” status, the tone of the tour is one of unabashed support of the University.
“We want to leave the tourist with the impression that Harvard is really number one in the world,” said Jones.
As a long-time member of the Ivy Council, he said that he has personally experienced the difference.
“I’ve been to all eight of the [Ivy League] schools—I’ve partied at all the Ivies,” he said. “Harvard is really a step ahead of the game.”
—Staff writer Nicholas A. Ciana can be reached at nciani@fas.harvard.edu.
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