"What that means to me is that black studentsmay be concentrating more," Sheats said. "It's notinconsistent with what we're saying."

The Size of the Block

The breakdown of ethnic groups and athletes waspresented in conjunction with data on the sizes ofthe blocking groups between 1996 and 1999.

Confirming what many House masters and Collegeadministrators had long suspected, the figuresindicated an upward trend in the size of studentblocking groups after randomization, particularlythose at or near the upper limit of 16 people.

Most notably, the data showed that in 1999,there were 28 blocking groups with the maximumnumber of 16 students, significantly more than inthe previous three years.

Quincy House Master Michael Shinagel said hisexperience is that some 16 person blocking groupshad not taken as active a role in House life ashe, or other masters, might have hoped.

The answer, he said, might be to trim blockinggroup sizes.

"My hunch is that most of the masters wouldsupport a shift to a number around eight," hesaid.

During the meeting, Lewis also said that largeblocking group sizes lead to greater fluctuationsin a House's gender ratio from year to year.

It is difficult to produce a House that isgender-balanced when one or two large blockinggroups are predominantly male or female.

Smaller blocking groups, an option that Lewishas been considering over the last year, wouldallow for better gender balances within theHouses, he said.

Undergraduate Council President Noah Z. Seton'00 presented committee members with results of astraw poll of council members on the size ofblocking groups.

He said 32 of 46 members voted in favor ofkeeping blocking group sizes capped at 16, while14 voted to reduce the upper limit