When the meal is ready the chef calls in the other students by ringing a bell or by blowing loudly through a conch shell, as they do in Jordan J. The evening's chef places the meal on a counter buffet style and students serve themselves, then take their plates back to a long table set against one wall of the room.

"J is ritzy because we always have dessert," explains Browning one night when the chef, Marcia Rorty '84, offers a dark chocolate mousse with fresh whipped cream to top off her spaghetti and garlic bread dinner.

But while co-op residents enjoy many advantages, such as guaranteed single rooms and less expensive board fees, co-op living, they say, is not for everyone.

Students perform day-to-day jobs such as cooking dinner, washing dishes, cleaning the stove and baking bread. They are required to do a certain amount of work based on a point system which varies from co-op to co-op. Each student must sign up on a chart for approximately 20 points' worth of work during a two week period. For example, making dinner once and cleaning up twice would be worth 20 points, Jennifer Eddy '85 explains.

"Basically, it's work," says Denny. "You have to be willing to do about eight hours of work per week and you have to enjoy doing it."

It's definitely not for some people," says Browning. "Most people here made a conscious choice not to be involved in the Harvard competitiveness. Most of us have different visions for our lives than the pre professional Harvard student."

In terms of this sense of community, the co-ops have come full circle since they were first built. This "esprit de corps" was challenged last year when the University, charging that the co-ops had been undersubscribed for the past several years, began to assign overflow students from the Quad Houses to the co-ops.

These students paid full board to the University, taking their meals at their House dining hall and not becoming a full-fledged member of the co-op. Complaining that this practice of assigning overflow students to the co-ops destroyed the sense of community, residents asked for changes in this policy.

As a result of these changes the co-ops have vastly improved since last year, undergoing a renaissance of sorts, according to Ira Bashkow '84. The changes included the end of assigning Quad overflow students, establishing a limit of 18 students per co-op, and allowing students who move to the co-op from a House to maintain their former House affiliation.

This makes it easier for students to experiment with co-op living, according to Bashkow, because they can move back to their original House if they don't like the co-op, and even if they remain at the co-op they do not have to sever all ties with their former House.

"The demand for the co-ops has increased since we made all the policy changes last year," says Housing Officer Teresa Cavalier. "Last year one of the co-ops wasn't even used as a co-op and the others weren't filled. This year all three of the co-ops are running at their capacity level of 17 students."

"Being able to keep your house affiliation is helpful because you can have your references written by your old tutor, or you can hang out in the common rooms of your old house or what ever-it's just easier to keep in touch," says Denny.

"I would still have joined the co-op even if they didn't change the rules, but keeping my House affiliation made it a lot easier, "says Julie Rapoport '84, who transferred from Lowell House. "I like the fact that I am still invited to Lowell House functions and that I can still get my diploma with all my friends in Lowell."

Each of the three co-ops houses about 17 undergraduates and one resident tutor who acts as a liaison between the co-op and its affiliate House either North, South or Currier. Among the day-to-day duties, the tutor attends monthly meetings between the three co-ops and the affiliate Houses to discuss various problems and concerns of the co-op residents, according to Eddy.

For academic advising, graduate references and the like, the co-op residents use the tutors of their original Houses, or, in the case of transfer students, the tutors of the co-op's affiliate House. For example, a student who moved from Winthrop House to the co-ops would be assigned to the Winthrop House Senior Common Room, and a transfer student who moved directly to the co-ops would use the tutors of that co-op's affiliate House.