During lottery season, the pursuit of the perfect rooming group begins. Sometimes new friendships must be formed or old ones broken to fit the desired suite. Lottery chances are calculated and scrutinized.

All manuevering, however, has to take place within the heavily guarded boundaries of a university law declaring "Every member of the group must be of the same sex."

Unless you're going to live in the Mather House or Leverett House Tower. And unless you're willing to craftily break those rules. From Mather to Leverett to the secret coed rooms in every house, some students are happier ignoring the University rule.

"It seems ridiculous to feel like you have to find other women to live with if your friends are guys," says Ellen V. Emerson '87, who will be living in in a coed crowd of seven in Leverett Tower next year.

"My current roommates were all graduating, and my closest friends were male friends that I'd known since freshman year," says Betsy M. Touhey '86, who last year lived with six men in the Mather Tower.

"Most people I know are pretty envious," says Chris Cunningham '86, who currently has four female rommates in the Mather Tower. "My parents said, `just don't tell your grandmother.'"

Official Approval

"Coed living" is allowed officially only in the Mather and Leverett Towers. The Adams House Senior House was also declared suitable for coed living, but was taken by a single sex group.

"As long as the rooms aren't adjoining, and they're single rooms, you can have different sexes living next door," says Lisa M. Colvin, the College's housing officer.

The chances of authorized coed living becoming more widespread are slim, according the University official in charge of housing. "It's unlikely that [coed rooms] may ever be allowed. Such a policy may come up against considerable parental objection, and it may not be in the students' best interest," says Thomas A. Dingman '67, assistant dean of the College for the housing system.

The rooms in the Mather and Leverett Towers are considered single rooms, says Colvin, even though residents of the houses informally view them as connecting suites of single bedrooms.

"It all goes into the computer, and the computer is programmed only to accept a single sex per room. Otherwise, it will say `wrong sex, cannot place'" says Colvin.

Beyond the rooms defined as single rooms, however, "[coed rooming] is not allowed, and as far as our office is concerned we don't know about it," says Colvin.

What They Don't Know

Unofficial estimates, however, indicate that there are a large number of "illegal" coed rooms on campus. "There's at least fifteen in my house," says a student who asked not to be identified.