Gone is the gong.

Now, instead of Adams House students sounding a gong to expose diners from other Houses, stickers on Adams residents' ID cards will help dining hall checkers easily identify non-House residents during peak dining hours.

Dining hall checkers began implementing the new policy last week by placing the small square stickers emblazoned with the Adams House shield on the lower right corner of House residents' ID cards.

The Adams House Committee decided to institute the stickers last spring, after attempts to curb inter-House dining--including the gong--failed to alleviate crowded conditions.

"Students complain about it all the time," said David B. Fithian, senior tutor of Adams House. "Particularly on Wednesdays and some other days it's just jam-packed."

Fithian stressed that the stickers are designed only to help enforce a pre-existing policy, not to add further restrictions.

Adams House currently prohibits inter-House dining after 5:30 p.m. and at busy times during lunch and Sunday brunch.

But according to House resident Stacey L. Dworkin '01, checkers had in the past been lenient when enforcing the restriction.

One problem was that House checkers did not know students' residences until after they swiped their cards, unless the checkers explicitly asked.