We are just as averse to paternalism as we have always been, and this announcement disturbed us when we first heard it. However, after considering the reasoning behind the move, we have to acknowledge that this is the right decision.

DISSENT: Respect Student Choice

The cut in blocking group size inappropriately decreases students' control over how they want to live in a system which has already deprived students of much choice.

The change was precipitated not by a visible decline in the quality of House life but by the increasing prevalence of large blocking groups--a trend that provides strong evidence that students prefer, when given the choice, to block with a large number of people. Normally, such preferences should be respected. The only reason to break up blocking groups would be if they had adverse effects on House community. Yet such effects have not been demonstrated so convincingly that the administration should disregard the preferences students have already expressed.

There are good reasons to believe that 16-person blocking groups are not so damaging to House community. If students wanted to meet new people and felt that a 16-person blocking group would preclude them from doing so, they would not fill the blocking group; students have just as much interest in House community as masters or administrators.

Furthermore, numbers don't determine social interactions: People who want to be insular can be just as insular in a group of eight or 16, and those who want to meet new friends in their houses won't be prevented by a few extra blockmates. Large blocking groups might even improve House community and facilitate new friendships since students are more likely to attend House events with a group of friends.

There is also good reason to think that eight is a bad size for a blocking group. There are suites of more than eight people in many houses. Some students do in fact have close friendship groups of more than eight people, and the lower limit would make the blocking process even more difficult for first-years. Such a low limit also makes it more difficult for mixed-gender blocking groups, which must already divide up into rooming groups.