University Hall brushes off Undergraduate Council resolutions as cavalierly as Louis XIV ever snubbed his subjects. Students can debate randomization until they are blue in the face without any real hope of influencing the administration, forming what Tocqueville would call "assemblies [with] no real power."

And everyone knows that the objections of the masters and not of the Class of '92 derailed last year's movement for randomization. There is little reason to believe that the current first-year petition will be more than an "empty show of freedom."

If Toqueville's predictions hold true, students will feel incapable of controlling their own lives. They will demand greater concentration requirements and an expanded core curriculum--thus relieving them of the burden of electives.

In the worst case scenario, students may actually begin to listen to their advisors.

THE third and final consequence of centralized administration is perhaps the most famous: revolution. It is easier to knock over a one-legged giant than an octopus.

Central administration, writes Tocqueville, explains "why it was that an uprising of the people could overwhelm so abruptly and decisively a monarchy that for so many centuries had successfully withstood so many onslaughts and, on the very eve of its downfall, seemed inexpungible even to the men who were about to destroy it."

It has been 200 years since Parisians stormed the Bastille, but only 20 since students stormed University Hall. Yes, the administration seems secure now. But if all power is concentrated in University Hall, the next students who take the building may keep it.

By keeping both masters and students out of the decision on randomization, the administration is making the same mistakes as did the House of Bourbon. Unless it improves its attitudes about housing, University Hall may find students deserting the houses in favor of a more enlightened system of liberty, equality, and fraternities.

Zachary M. Schrag '92 is, admittedly, a Social Studies concentrator. As such, he applies different social theories to every aspect of his life. But this time, he really thinks he's on to something.