At first glance, the sweatshirts look like any other item of Harvard Athletic Department clothing.

But upon closer inspection, it's obvious that they don't quite fit the mold. On the front, in between the "D" for "Department" and "A" for "Athletics," there is a large "K" where an "H" would normally appear. And on the back, "Let's Just Stop Pretending."

Indeed, Kirkland House's sweatshirt makes no apologies for its jock stereotype. And Kirkland is not the only house well known for its distinctive character.

But these house characters have been changing, upperclass students say, ever since the non-ordered choice lottery system was implemented last year in an effort by the College to increase diversity in the houses.

Residents interviewed from four houses with widely-perceived stereotypes say that non-ordered choice has already started to diffuse their houses' distinct character.

And while the new diversity may have eased some of the concerns of first-years who will enter the houses after two years of non-ordered choice, the plan that is creating that diversity has drawn fire from current house residents, who say it is doing more harm than good.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 explains that the decision to switch to non-ordered choice was based on large discrepancies in statistics describing the make-up of the house populations.

"In some of the houses, we felt they were becoming a little imbalanced in terms of academic fields and extracurricular interests," says Jewett. "We wanted to have a little less skewing. We're hoping this change will produce that."

The system was the result of a compromise after more than two years of consideration by the Committee on House Life, the Freshman Dean's Office and the house masters, says Jewett.

Under the previous system, first-years ranked their top three house choices and were assigned houses in one of three rounds, each round looking at the next lowest choice from each rooming group. Now that students list four unranked houses, more will not get their first choice than under the former lottery system.

After next year, Jewett says, the non-ordered choice system will be reviewed to see if the goals have been reached. So far, the system seems to be working, he says.

"The results of the first-years have certainly moved us in the direction we wanted. On balance, we think there's been some progress made," he says. "I'm hopeful we won't have to make any increased moves towards randomization. It's a little early to tell for sure."

This is little consolation, however, to students who say they have already noticed drastic effects of non-ordered choice. And not everyone appreciates the changes.

Adams House

In Adams House, for example, residents say that non-ordered choice has definitely had an effect on their house.