Tonight, he wonders aloud whether he should put on something else before meeting with his thesis advisor to discuss his topic, "The Theater as Rectum."

Tan, whose hair is streaked with orange, is wearing boldly-striped bell-bottoms, a zippered shirt and glitter on his eyelids.

"There's something about being shocking that demonstrates that difference exists and alerts people to the fact that they need to get used to it," he says.

Tan, who says he sometimes attends BGLTSA meetings and has been called a "faggot" at Tommy's, adds that he has never been harassed in Dunster.

He says he feels comfortable in the house, although it seems different now and he like it better last year.

"I'm concerned that with randomization, people in the house should remain tolerant and make the house a place where you feel comfortable," Tan says.

Duchin also says Dunster is different this year compared to four years ago or even to two years ago when she moved into the house.

"Dunster was something it's not anymore--an absolute hotbed of drugs, hippies and music, and I don't mean concerts in the library," she says.

According to Duchin, a friend of hers recently heard some men making jokes about lesbians in the Dunster courtyard.

"The lesbian jokes really hit home because this used to be a place where it was utterly comfortable to be gay," she says.

Duchin says the decline is due to the fact that there are people living in Dunster as a result of randomization who don't want to be there. In the past, students had to have listed the house on their lottery application in order to end up there.

Anna E. McMahan '99, who was in the first class of students to be randomized, says she was disappointed when she first found out that she was put into Dunster because she didn't know anyone in the house.

But she says she is "fine with it now."

"It's very eclectic and diverse," McMahan says. "There are strong personalities.

Eclectic Clubs in Dunster