If not challenged, at the end of two weeks, a group must have "red tagged" their film--securing movie delivery from the distributor and declaring their intent to show the movie. Otherwise, it becomes fair game for others.

In recent years, the process has sometimes been an exercise in endurance and strategy. In the bowels of the Science Center sits a book that contains years of handwritten movie requests, chronicling the clashes between groups hoping for the same film.

After dutifully re-reserving "The Phantom Menace" every two weeks since last fall, Perspective's Levine missed a week, only to see another student group yellow-tag the movie. Levine re-secured the rights for the film two weeks later but says he has been less diligent as of late, leaving the yet-to-be-released "Star Wars" movie up for grabs.

In general, however, student leaders do not fault the tagging system for the decline in movie showings.

Tiffs between student organizations have actually declined in recent years because of lack of interest. Before tagging, the Science Center had a lottery system in place to deal with the number of showing requests.

More recently, groups ranging from the Prefect Program to the Mainly Jazz dance company to the Canadian Club jostled their way through the tagging system. As the pages of the log record show, barely a few days went by in 1997 without someone requesting a film.

As of yesterday afternoon though, no one has tagged anything since April 9.

Risky Business