"I have already received several noise complaints," the e-mail reads. "Please: no piano playing after 11 p.m. No blasting of stereos out open windows at ANY time."

According to residents, Pforzheimer House has a large number of pre-med students, a pre-med hotline number and a 20-member pre-med advisory committee.

Older students report stories of house officials shutting down student parties precisely at 1 a.m., saying that the current e-mail fits the tenor of general house policy.

But sophomores entering the house say they found the warning unreasonable, considering the fact that school is not yet in session.

"We all think it is king of weird to start warning us a week before classes start," says Jason C. Shaffner '99.

One group of sophomore blockmates say they have already been personally reprimanded for making too much noise.

Another Pforzheimer sophomore is concerned about the tone the e-mail sets for the rest of the year.

"It worries me as a statement of personality about the house," the sophomore says.

Mather House Master Sandra Naddaff says the process of dealing with randomized students is really an extension of what the house masters do anyway--listening to student concerns.

"To be honest," she says, "I think this is what you always do--you always pay attention to the people coming into the house. You always want to make the students in the house feel welcome."

In the past, Naddaff says, that has meant rescheduling house events to accommodate the training schedules of Mather's many athletes.

This year, the same philosophy led Naddaff to hire a non-resident tutor who specializes in jazz music to work with a 13-member blocking group of sophomore jazz musicians.

"In the end," she says, echoing the spirit of randomization, "it doesn't matter whether you live in Mather, or Cabot, or Quincy."

Naddaff's assessment is undoubtedly optimistic, but only time will tell whether the early friction can be cooled, and whether the much-discussed randomization experiment will become a success in reality.