But what the administration didn't realize is that new stereotypes would arise in the place of the old. Though volatile and changing from year to year, clear--if accidental--trends have emerged in several Houses.

Connor W. Schell '99 remembers that when he first moved into Eliot House, its reputation as an elite bastion of privilege was grounded in fact.

"It was definitely noticeable," he says. "The House was much less diverse."

But in the first year after randomization, Eliot took on a very different character.

"Eliot went from being really white to being the gay House," says Peter T. Wilson '99, who called the Eliot of his sophomore year "the center of the queer revolution"--though he adds that reputation has dimmed with recent classes.

Wilson noted that, after his arrival, the masters instituted a queer tea--which would have been unthinkable in previous years.

Up in the Quad, Jeffrey S. Gleason '99 describes Pforzheimer House as "reclusive and withdrawn and studious" before randomization.

Now, Gleason and others say Pforzheimer has completely turned around, becoming a hotbed of gossip (please see "Social Analysis," above).

"People are definitely in each other's business more than they are in their own," he says. "The gossip is just more rampant...across groups and across the entire House community."

It's unclear whether stereotypes result from the students themselves or the physical nature of the House. Gleason notes that Pforzheimer's physical layout, which has sociable floors rather than disconnected entryways, and a dining hall with a voyeur's balcony, lends itself to the new reputation.

"PfoHo is a small House--it's probably easier for rumors to get around," observes Katherine R. O'Neil '01.

Mather resident Ruth S. Noyes '99 says that when she would enter the dining hall of her "athletic-minded" House two years ago, "it was overwhelmingly white males--that was the predominant look."

But while Matherites still get physical to a disproportionate degree, she says, today "there's a big musical interest here."

"We have really good practice rooms here," she says.

Still, Noyes cautions that she wouldn't describe Mather's musical aptitude as a new stereotype--and the new characterizations seem more tenuous than before.