In Adams House, 12 people gather over dinner to discuss the possible purchase of an $850 color television and a video tape recorder set, to be installed in one of the House's newly renovated rooms. No one on the committee raises any objections until one points out that while the proposed video equipment may be popular in the small dining room--among committee members--would it play in "the large dining hall"--the real world of Adams House.

Because no one but the officers of the committees are elected, the issue of the legitimacy of the committees often comes up. Does an unelected body, a minority of the House, most of whose members are not accountable to the House, have the right to make decisions for and spend the money of the majority of the House?

"It may be the choice of the committee, but is a TV and a video tape recorder what everyone else wants?" one member asks.

"If those people in the dining hall really cared about what we do with our money, if they really wanted to have some input, they would come," replies Chairman Joe DiNunzio '84, adding, "Last spring we announced we had lots of money and were open to ideas on what to do with it and no one came to the meeting."

Another member suggests a House referendum, which other members counter by pointing out that gives the apathy of Adams House students, they would fail to get a worthwhile turnout on the issue. Someone suggests taking a voices vote in the dining hall right then and there, but it is shouted down by the prevailing fear that such a practice "would make the House Committee look silly." After a half hour of debate, the dozen in the small dining room vote to go ahead with the purchase.

As the rejection of the voice vote at Adams indicates, Houses image is another concern that shapes decisions made by House Committees. While the nature of the housing lottery allows these images sophomores were assigned rooms unclaimed in to develop by attracting a certain type of student to the House, what the House Committee does and the activities it plans can be crucial to maintaining or dispelling this image, and to meeting or rising above residents' expectations of life in a particular House. "The House Committees are an equalizing factor in the Houses," says Archie C. Epps III, dean of students.

To the Mather House Committee planning a Dartmouth weekend party, the number of kegs and the hours of the party are directly related to the image of the House. Students wishing to up the number of kegs from eight to 10 claim. "We don't want to have the reputation of having parties which always run out of beer at ll."

Other members concerned about tutors closing down parties at 1 a.m. propose a resolution extending the hour of recknoning to 2 a.m., saying. "No one will come here if they know they're going to be kicked out."

At Winthrop House, students haggle over the admissions price of their Dartmouth party. On the one hand, with 15 kegs on tap, the House stands to gross a lot from the pockets of the Green machine tanking across campus in search of a good party, and three dollars is the price to take advantage of this. Opponents argue that the price would drive Harvard students to other parties at the River, and give Winthrop the reputation of overcharging for their dances. The capitalists eventually win out.

But concern for image extends beyond the College to the Cambridge community. Harvard and Neighborhood Development (HAND), a public service program which pairs groups of local children to House-recruited volunteers, is administered through the Houses. Other Houses sponsor other benefits: Dunster House is holding a Sanders Theater concert to benefit hunger relief.

But members see their committees geared more toward social services than social events. "The House Committees should be what people want it to be--and that is more of a service than a social organization," says DiNunzio.

These services include everything from handling laundry machine repairs to helping sophomores adjust to the House, to handling any type of complaints about House life. Last spring when Adams House was wracked by the pangs of renovations. DiNunzio recalls, he met with construction supervisors as often as several times a day to relay complaints about inconveniences such as early-morning jackhammering. The jackhammering stopped.

Mather House Committee chairman Caroline Lipson '84 agrees with this broader conception of a House Committee's work. "The House Committee is a center for student concern, separate from its social role." She adds that one of the biggest jobs facing the committee each fall is introducing sophomores to the House, which involves arranging House tours and other events for interested newcomers.

The North House Committee last spring responded to suggestions from both students and the Masters by revising the in-House rooming lottery to be fairer toward rising sophomores. In the past the lottery by rising juniors and seniors. These rooms were often scattered throughout the House forcing sophomore rooming groups to be split up so they would fit into scattered singles. This year, the committee agreed to set aside blocks of singles for sophomores and according to Hanna Hastings, co-Master of North House, most rooming groups have been able to get adjacent rooms. "The students on the House Committee handled it very maturely," she says.

But now that such accomplishments as the storage report and the Core report have established the Undergraduate Council as a service organization, will it take students away from the House Committees? Not necessarily, observers say. Both committee members and Masters say that the House Committee can attract students who would not be attracted to the council.