To the editors:

Tucked away in your editorial about randomization at Harvard (March 18) are all the usual arguments. We've all heard them before. However, there is also one truly atrocious statement. As an example of declining sense of community, you cite the recent history of the Lowell House Opera.

I am completely unable to fathom why it is you bring this up considering that a) Lowell has not, at least in recent memory, been a terribly operatic house; b) the Lowell House Opera has no recent history of casting large numbers of Lowell residents; and c) the Lowell House Opera doesn't even have any recent history of casting large numbers of Harvard students, nor of using them as directors.

Bemoan lack of community as much as you like, but the Lowell House Opera's success or lack thereof has extraordinarily little to do with who the residents of Lowell House are. Now the Dunster House Opera (consider, those who remember, the former character of Dunster) might be another matter, except that that company, aside from an inability to come up with a "more irresistible and convincing lead" this last year (which had nothing to do with randomization) is doing just fine. WESLEY C. CHINN '98   March 21, 1998