House Lottery's Future Still to be Decided

For students moving into refurbished Yard dorms this week, housing is probably the least of their worries.

But come April and the housing lottery, the Class of 1993 may encounter a process even more confusing than deciphering the Orientation Week schedule.

Despite tumultuous efforts to overhaul it, the College's procedure for assigning students to residential houses emerged relatively unscathed last year. But the issue is far from settled. And Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 is vowing to randomly assign at least 50 percent of the spaces in each house--a radical change from the current "choice-based" system.

As it now stands, groups list their top three house choices on a form and are matched with a house based on computer-generated lottery numbers. Only those whose top house choices are filled when their number comes up randomly are assigned to houses with open spaces.

But this system has raised questions about diversity in the houses, sparking complaints about self-segregation and charges that the houses are no longer microcosms of the College.

Last year, several masters and the dean of the College came up with a plan to answer these complaints. Under the proposal, one-quarter of the spaces in participating houses would have been filled by random assignment.

After outspoken protests from students and second thoughts on the part of several masters, the plan was withdrawn. The process remained the same as before, although students were no longer told their lottery numbers before listing house preferences.

This year, Jewett has a different strategy in mind. He says the decision will no longer depend on support from the masters, although he is seeking it. "We tried the discretion of the masters," Jewett says, adding that last year, "the process worked okay, but the results had just as much skewing as ever."

Instead, he will make the decision, which then must be approved by Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence and President Derek C. Bok. The masters, however, do not intend to be left out of the decision.

"When I left in June, I understood that the masters were to chew on this in the fall," says Winthrop Master James A. Davis. "We'll see if we can beat the dean to some sort of consensus."

Jewett says a decision will be made by January to prevent the last minute flip-flops that marked last year's process.

"I don't feel the [freshperson] year should have unnecessary trauma in it," says Davis. "This system makes unnecessary trauma for [freshpeople]."

In the end, says Leverett Master John E. Dowling '57, "We have to make a decision as to whether we want a microcosm of the University or very skewed groups."