But according to Jewett, a reduction in size from 20 to 16 will not have a noticeable effect on house diversity.

"Moving from twenty to sixteen is essentially not doing anything," Jewett said.

After the meeting, Bossert suggested a compromise proposal that would ordinarily limit blocking groups to 8 students but would allow exceptions to the rule "for good reason."

Other topics discussed at yesterday's COHL meeting include rescheduling the time of inter-house transfers and re-organizing the intra-house lotteries that determine room assignments for juniors and seniors.

Bossert and Cabot House Co-Master Jurij Striedter proposed looking into replacing the intra-house lotteries with a program in which a house administrator would assign rooms.

"Nobody will get a worse room," Bossert said. "The average would increase, and nobody would be worse off."

But Eliot House Committee Co-Chair Kevin M. Davis '96 said students do not want to lose their right to choose their rooms.

"Fiat doesn't fly," Davis said. "I don't think students would ever play to fist."

The COHL did not take a vote on any housing issues at yesterday's meeting.

Tom Horan Jr. contributed to the reporting of this story.