"Students in the freshman class this year are upset about it," Seton says. "They felt like eight people was just too small."
Confrontation
It was to be the biggest change in House policy since 1995's randomization, which eliminated student choice from upper-class House assignments. Behind the change, administrators and House masters said, was a desire to get students more involved in House community while making it easier for the College to regulate gender balances in the Houses.
Yet first-year students, just getting used to living in the Yard, were slow to anger over a limit to their freedom in choosing House blockmates. Many seemed oblivious to the fact that a reduction had been made.
Eventually, though, council member Alex M. Rampell '03 took up the cause.
Arguing that the students who were to be affected by the change had not been represented on the Committee on House Life (COHL) when it debated the issue, Rampell drew up a petition that asked Lewis to reverse the decision.
To many first-year students--877, to be exact--Rampell had a point.
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