"I was really impressed by him," Cerny says."[He] came in, sat down on the floor with us andtalked about life, sutdies and school in general."

Most of the students who attended the gatheringsay they found Rudenstine friendly and interestedin student life. But others say the administrationtook advantage of the study break, using it morefor public relations purposes than to becomeacquainted with students.

Photographers and cameramen covered the studybreak, capturing footage for an upcomingdocumentary entitled "A Day in the Life atHarvard." And Anshul G. Amar '97 says theinteraction between the students and Rudenstineshowed everyday life at Harvard as more excitingthan it really is.

"It was pretty fake," Amar says. "We're amulticultural dorm, and they needed some goodP.R."

While the dorm may be culturally diverse, MassHall residents have developed a reputation forbeing monolithic in one important regard: theirsilence. In fact, rumor has it that the incomingfirst-years placed in Mass Hall are students whoindicate on their rooming applications they arequiet people.

"The deans told us at the start of the year weare chosen because it's quiet place and we willnot do anything to disturb the administration,"Cerny says.

The personal tastes of Associate Dean ofFreshmen W.C. Burris Young '55 also may influencewhich students end up in the dorm.

Young, who as a dean helps place incomingfirst-years into their housing, spent about 30years as a proctor in Mass Hall and "has a softspot in his heart" for the dorm, according to JoeR. Reisert, the current proctor.

But Young denies that he looks for a certaintype of student to place in Mass Hall.

"I put people there who I'd want to have aroundme--pleasant, interesting people who hate countrywestern music," he says. "I don't want the placeto sound like a truck stop."

Certain patterns, however, emerge frominterviews with this year's Mass Hall residents.When students lodged there now describedthemselves on rooming applications, nearly allcharacterized themselves as relatively tame "3's"on a scale of 1 to 5 for eating, sleeping, noisehabits.

In their social habits and politics, "peoplehere are more conservative than the rest of thecampus," Suk says.

Some Mass Hall residents say they are lessoutgoing only because they spend so much timedeveloping their skills and talents. Onefirst-year living there says Mass Hall studentscomprised an unusually large share of this year'senrollment in challenging classes such as ComputerScience 51 and Chemistry 17.

"People spend a good bulk of their time intheir areas of interest," says Stephanie P. Wexler'97, who is an editor of The Crimson. "They're thebest of the bunch. Harvard students are greet,[Mass Hall students] are incredible."

More time spent studying for such classes meansless time for parties. And more quiet.