"I've seen minor changes," says Wolk, "but I don't think they're changes that are necessarily due to non-ordered choice. We haven't been struck as heavily as some other houses."
But other Dunsterites say they've noticed greater changes.
"Our house is generally pretty leftist but a couple right-wingers got thrown in here and they've been making trouble," says Seth D. Tapper '91. "Non-ordered choice is the latest manifestation of a conspiracy by the administration to break up centers of student power and cohesion. After 1969 their philosophy has been divide and rule," Tapper says.
Dunster House Co-Chairs David Lim '92 and L. Cameron Kitchin '91-'92 say they've noticed that residents' interaction is less frequent than it should be.
"I think non-ordered choice is good in promoting diversity within the house, but it sort of detracts from strong student interaction. It's sort of been dampened. There's not as many groups that are just hanging together," says Lim.
"I think it's sad," says Rebecca E. Hollander-Blumoff '92. "The people who chose [Dunster] first are kind of demoralized by the fact that a lot of people are unhappy to be here."
First-Years Less Concerned
On the other side of Mass Ave., where the first-year class lives under the most diverse possible living conditions, the effects of non-ordered choice are not so important--unless, of course, randomization was involved.
"I was suprised at first; I was shocked," says James L. Livermore '94, who was randomly assigned to Adams House. Yet the football player says that he and his rooming group plan to make the best of the situation.
"I'm not even sure if the stereotype is true," he says. "I've never even been there."
"I'm sure I'm going to witness some unpleasant things," says Livermore's future roommate Max Koh '94, also a football player. "The image is hard to erase. In the long run, it will gradually disappear, I hope. Just because it's Adams, I won't say I'm not going to do anything for the house. I'll try to listen to as many people as I can and be open-minded.
Elizabeth A. Frutiger '94 was not randomized--the future Adams House resident says she listed the house on her housing form. She says she feels it's only "a matter of time" before stereotypes are dissolved.
"It's nice for the house to have character, but I think sometimes it gets kind of vicious," says Frutiger.
Holly K. Tabor '94. who will live in Eliot House next year, says that her rooming group didn't worry about house stereotypes in choosing the four houses to place on their form. "There would be people you have something in common with, and there would be people you didn't have something in common with, but that's what college is all about," she says.
After two years of non-ordered choice, efforts to increase diversity in the houses have had a noticeable effect. And while students in four of the houses with widely-held stereotypes may disagree with administrators over whether the new system is beneficial or harmful to house life, they all agree that it is...