"A lot of my friends are my friends becausethey are in my house," says Quincy resident NestorM. Davidson '90. "I have a lot of friends I don'tsee because they are involved in their house andI'm involved in mine."
The new alcohol policy makes it particularlydifficult for students to meet different people.Since house committees can no longer throw openparties with alcohol and some houses strictlylimit guest attendence at house parties, studentsare left to socialize within their house or atprivate parties where they rarely meet new people.
Some students say that the University couldbegin to combat the house system's trend towardisolation by constructing an all-campus studentcenter, making it possible for students tomaintain ties to a wider circle of friends.
"It's not enough to have parties. We need aplace where people can gather," says Neil M. Suggs'88, Quincy house committee chairman. Suggs addsthat a student center would make it possible forstudents to stay in touch with their classmates.
"Sophomore year is really traumatic," he says."You enter the College with your classmates andthen they rip you apart."
The lack of all-College facilities oftenrestricts students' social groups to their houses,and many students say they are concerned thathouse stereotypes narrow their choice of friendsstill further.
House masters say they don't think the housesare all that different, pointing to the fact thatall houses have basically the same facilities andadministrative structure. Administrators add thatstereotypes change over time.
But students, who only live in the houses forthree years, say the stereotypes are verynoticable.
"If you go to an Adams House party and aKirkland party, it's violently different," saysAdams resident Katie Roiphe '90.
The freshman lottery guarantees randomassignment in fewer than half of the houses, assome of the houses fill up early in the firstround. But house masters say they think the $32million Quad renovation project will even outstudent perception of the houses and help promotediversity.
Although ethnic diversity has been a largeproblem for the houses in past years, Jewett sayshe thinks distribution of minority students haslargely evened out. While not every house has anequal distribution of all minority groups, Bossertsays, every house has at least some minoritystudents. "To the extent that there arecommunities [of specific minority groups inspecific houses], I don't know that's bad," hesays.
Under an agreement with the house masters,College officials do not release statistics onminority representation within the houses, saysAssistant Dean for the House System Thomas A.Dingman '67.
Enforced Mixing
Administrators periodically considereliminating student choice in the housing lottery,either by affiliating freshmen with houses beforethey arrive or by allowing freshmen to formrooming groups and then randomly assigning them tothe houses.
"I should be forced to mix," says Eliot Houseresident Alastair MacTaggart '89. "I think thatwould fulfill Harvard's commitment to diversitymore than it does now."
But College officials say that it is unlikelythat major changes will be instituted any timesoon. Both the house masters and students widelydisagree whether random assignment should be used,and when the College tried such a system in theearly 1960s, it proved to be very unpopular.
As long as large groups of students can blocktogether, complete diversity is impossible. Nearlyone-third of the varsity football team currentlylives in North House, the Hastings say, in partbecause several large blocking groups wererandomly assigned to the house.
Yet, to most students problems of diversity area minor inconvenience and the intellectual life isnot missed at all. Indeed undergraduatesinterviewed for this article viewed the houses asproviding the comfortable world of a home awayfrom home. As Eliot House junior James F. Cooksays, "It's aptly called a house because that'swhere your family is."
Members of the Crimson staff contributed tothe reporting in this story.