Students today believe that as a function of this new system, their exposure to students of various backgrounds has increased.

“Because of blocking stuff, you still have large clumps of type of people in each House,” Andrew Y. Badger ’12 acknowledged. “But I’m on the football team, and I’m the only football player in the whole House.”

Dingman said that this trend is distinct from former patterns, when all varsity athletes used to live in the same House—and, as further studies showed, all concentrated in Economics, taking very similar classes.

“What’s the point of going to Harvard, with its diverse student body, if you get smothered into these communities that look like yourself?” Dingman said.

Derek M. Flanzraich ’10 recalls how his blocking group became close to a blocking group that had very different tastes from his own.

“Our blocking group [met] them in Currier—and that wouldn’t have been possible if this House system weren’t randomized,” Flanzraich said. “Becoming friends with those people was probably one of the most valuable things that happened to me at Harvard.”

“Randomization is a good example of an institutional policy that supports this core value of diversity,” Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson said. Former University President A. Lawrence Lowell’s “vision was to have this House system where there wouldn’t be this divide between the Gold Coast, where students were more wealthy, and the Yard, where students were less wealthy.”

“Harvard is saying this is really important,” Nelson added.

—Danielle J. Kolin and Naveen N. Srivatsa contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Gautam Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu.