Cal's cliquishness even thrives in its political groups. For example, Slate, the reasonably influential, peace-oriented student political party, has its own social gatherings, which draw a constant flock of distinctly "Slate-types." One sophomore commented that he had been deterred from joining Slate for fear of being "lost in the clique."

The most stereotyped examples of social pressure are the sororities, to which just under one-quarter of the women belong. "Pledges," the sorority initiates, are urged to look their best and to act sociably. A few sororities reputedly accept only blondes. One "Sally," as the house members are called, said that "the girls think only of dates, and nothing else."

Even the small rooming houses for women, which are no more than small dorms and are not selective, pressure their residents into active social lives. According to a freshman in a very small house, it is almost mandatory to attend the Saturday-night parties.

Fraternities, which include about 20 per cent of the men, place even more pressure on their members. They offer a pleasant way of meeting one small group of friends, but within the group, the influence on the individual is strong. The "frat-rats" seldom associate with students outside their own house. According to Peter van Houton, Assistant Dean of Students, very few of the fraternity members attend the ASUC sponsored dances at the Union; each house has its own party on the week-end.

Very apparent, as well, is the effect that the fraternities have upon scholastic averages. On a four-point grade scale, the over-all average of fraternity pledges is 2.1, as compared to a campus-wide average of 2.5, a rather significant difference. Even more suggestive is the fact that out of the eight fraternities with the highest scholastic averages, four are either Jewish or Oriental. The other four are very small, socially unacceptable houses.

Another victim of the "groupiness" at Berkeley is the large colony of foreign students. Of the 2300 foreign students at Cal about 350 live in the huge International House. Despite an effort to mix them with Americans, most of the foreign students keep to their own nationality. The large block of Orientals, including 550 Chinese and Japanese citizens, is especially cohesive.

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of this fragmentation of the University is that it makes it virtually impossible to ascertain exactly how many students are involved in precisely what cliques or even more important, how many students are influenced. Cal is most certainly not of the Mid-western breed--there are no football idols and there is certainly not as much diehard campus spirit. Berkeley is sophisticated enough to avoid such conformity.

Yet Berkeley is also not a melting-pot of left wing non-conformists, as many would like to imagine. The intellectuals and peace marchers are only one of these many groups; their numbers are far less significant than their noise would suggest.

In fact, the number of Berkeley students subjected to group pressures seems quite large indeed. With the California Master Plan for State Education, a grand formula for channeling less able high school graduates into the state and junior colleges, still-in its initial stages, Cal admits many students with very capricious academic ambitions and rather dubious abilities.

In a survey conducted by the Berkeley Survey Research Center, only 30 percent of the entering freshmen considered the probability that they would graduate as "extremely likely." Also, about 30 per cent of the freshmen were below the top tenth of their class. It is this large block of students who become overwhelmingly concerned with their social life and they are the most susceptible to the social pressure.

Until the Master Plan transforms Berkeley into a more genuine center of academically oriented students, its size and diversity will continue to force many students to withdraw into their own cliques. For those many students caught between somewhat faint academic ambitions and intense social pressures, Berkeley will continue to be a surprisingly unrewarding and sometimes unpleasant experience