Lewis will therefore have the responsibility of choosing a dean who reflects all the constituencies of the College.

"I'd like just to see that the best person for the job gets appointed and I have not been close to the search process so far," Lewis said.

Some student members of PBHA charge that the search process is merely a ruse to let go of Greg Johnson, the organization's director.

"I think this whole search process is illegitimate," said PBH Association Treasurer Andrew Erlich.

Lewis will have to grapple with the desire of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to impose order upon a program whose funding is often chaotic, and the desire of PBH students to maintain some sort of autonomy.

Totally Random

A perhaps less politically charged but just as controversial issue is Jewett's recent decision to randomize the first-year housing lottery (see story, page C-4.)

Next year, students in the class of 1999 will enter the housing lottery with 16 blockmates but will not, as in previous years, be allowed to list their top four choices. They will instead be randomly placed into one of the 12 undergraduate houses.

The Maull-Lewis report recommended complete randomization of the housing lottery.

Jewett says his rationale is one of diversity.

But 82 percent of students, according to an Undergraduate Council poll, are opposed to randomization. Thirty-seven percent, on the other hand, feel there is a greater need for diversity in the houses.

Many students who oppose randomization say they like being able to live with people who have interests similar to theirs. Others say they want to have freedom of choice. Still others assert that just because students of different backgrounds or races live next to each other does not mean they will become friends.

A protest on May 23 brought 200 people to University hall to rally against randomization.

Lewis wrote in an e-mail message last week, however, that the decision will stand, at least for a few years until the system is proven to succeed or fail.

"I have no immediate plans to reconsider Dean Jewett's decision on this, and I agree with his statement that the decision ought to stand for three or four years before it is evaluated," Lewis wrote.