'I Want One Who Doesn't Smoke'

From June 1 until about August 10, five people in the office of the Harvard Dean of Freshmen try to decide which of the 1212 incoming freshmen will be able "to live together for a year reasonably happily."

"That is our ideal goal," said assistant Dean of Freshmen W.C. Burris Young. "We try to avoid hatchet murder situations." To accomplish this, Young added, "we try to give each student what he asks for."

First, all students are catagorized according to their interests. Then, those making the room assignments consider what kind of room the student desires--double, triple, etc.

From there, said J. E. Thomas, Senior Advisor to Freshmen, "it's almost a gestalt process. We search the files for a guy whose interests are similar but not identical so there can be some similarity of interests in the midst of the diversity that is characteristic of the typical Harvard class.

"We try to do as much as we can of what we are asked, but sometimes it is impossible. Today, a guy said he wanted a roommate who "digs beauty', but it's kind of hard to judge from a student's folder whether or not he 'digs beauty.'"

Room assignments may also take into account religious preferences, habits, and even a student's desire to sleep with a nightlight, Assistant Dean of Freshman Young said, "A majority don't care about the religion of their roommate, but if they do, we try to accomodate them."

Young, however, added that there are other factors besides the interests and preferences of the students. "You can sometimes match them with a proctor. If a proctor is a physics major, I may put several physics students near him."

Although students are grouped by interest, Senior Advisor Thomas tries to "avoid having one dorm all physics majors or all athletes." This, however, doesn't always work out in practice.

And then there are those who make room assignment simple by requesting a specific roommate.

But with all the effort, the process of selecting roommates can still be, as Thomas called it, "a sort of Russian Roulette."

"We can bring to bear [on the selection of roommates] the sensitivity which comes from looking at these folders and trying to get some sort of feeling of what kind of person this guy is, but I suspect we make mistakes."