THE HQUSING LOTTERY

Much has been said in recent months and continues to be said today about be value of proposed random housing lottery. The primary objective of random as assignmment purposed to be an increased level of diversity of indent increase and abilities. But when president Lowell envisioned a diverse residential system during the dawning of the Age of House life his intentions were considerably more limited than those of today's critics Lowell chiefly sought to mix rich and poor, to eliminate the townhouse tenement disparity. He did not search for an Idaho resident to put in each House merely for diversity's sake.

The Harvard of 1955 a much different indeed, much more diverse place from the Harvard of 1953 It would be insufficient to argue that, because critics misconstrue president Lowell's vision, the notion of a random lottery is non sensical. There are other compelling reasons to oppose changing the lottery system members of certain minority groups, for example, require a minimum number of intra group associations to ensure a comfortable Harvard experience Nearly every GISA and BSA leader will tell you that to randomly assign and spread gay and Black students across campus would disastrosuly affect their mutual support system. Also groups stereotypes to Harvard tend not to remain in place. Mather House seems to be replacing Adams House as the most popular residence for says players flock to Leverett as if it were Kirkland. Soon the football captain may come from Lowell House, and then Lowell might become a very different place itself.

What is the argument behind the drive for such homogeneous between Houses that each become carbon copy of the others? What is the purpose of sterlizing autonomous communities? Many beneficial results stem from the present system that allows students with similar intrests to flock together, including I everett House Drama Eliot House Jimmy Fund activities. What a crime it would be if an interesterd and energetic skater were denied the choice to go to Eilot House to work on. "An Evening with champions."

The reasoning behind college admission preference for a random housing lottery is noteworthy. It would appear as if the administrative viewpoint springs not from any social vision based upon educational values from a disgust with parental complaints assignments of those students now randomly housed. If we could only spread out the pain. So to speak, no one could argue that he or she was unfairly treated Moreover no definitive proof exists showing that the present system causes any harm. Last year Associate Registrar Lay Halfond Mather House Semor Lutor Steven Epsterm prepared a report chock full of numbers supposedly indicating the deleterious effects of the present system. Master Bossert and others who know immediately denounced the report which contained few if any statistically significant figures Indeed in 1969 Harvard College implemented a random lottery amidst existing student unrest and everyone grew more angry and frustrated--not only the rioting students, but also the Master and parents. The system a random scrapped the next year.

While a random lottery poses many problems satisfaction with the present system continues to rise. The Whitla Verba survey from the spring of 1983 showed that on a scale of 1 to 5 I representing high satisfaction with the present system, students average 'a 1.9 in 1983 compared with a 3.3 1973. In 1994 69 percent of Harvard freshmen received their top choice House while 91 percent of freshmen were assigned to one of their three choices. In the words or one eminent and farsighted Master "if it ain't broken, don't fix it."

For students to say "we chose this place" is psychologically important for house spirit. The vast majority of students are where they want to be and this lends imn.casurably to personality and tradition in the Houses. The character of a house depends heavily upon factors other than how students are assigned to it, particularly administrative and structural factors. Kirkland House sports more than just athletes since the arrival of its newest Masters the athletes are still there. but so too are Phi Beta kappas and Rhodes scholars. The reconstruction at the Radclific Quadrangle doubtless will make those Houses very attractive to students.

Making decisions and living with then ramifications is a vital part of a student's education. For the sake of ideological consistency, the college ought to support a system that maintains the sanctity of choice.

R. Scott Falk, a senior, is a member of both the Residential Committee of the Undergraduate Council and the student Faculty Committee on Housing.