Earlier this year, a male first-year says he took a companion back to his Massachusetts Hall room around five in the afternoon for the expressed purpose of making love.

But with Harvard's powerful administrators working on the floor below, young lovers can't be too careful.

"I kept telling her to be quiet," says the student, who requested anonymity. "They might hear us downstairs."

Massachusetts Hall, the oldest college dormitory in the nation, provides not only a home to first-years but also serves as the offices for President Neil L. Rudenstine and other high-ranking University officials.

Administration offices take up Mass. Hall's first two floors, and 24 students live on the upper two floors in the smallest dorm in Harvard Yard.

And locating both of these groups in Mass Hall makes living there a very different experience from residing in other Yard dorms, first-years say.

Those differences can include everything from knowing the license plates on Rudenstine's car (it's 1636, the year Harvard was founded) to spotting world leaders when they visit or just keeping extra quiet during those intimate moments.

"I've run into [Rudenstine] a few times," says Kiran Musunuru '97, adding that he enjoys a special relationship with the administrators working below him. "He's friendly because he recognizes us."

With key card privileges to Mass Hall, however, comes pressure, Miles Okazaki '97 says he feels an obligation to keep up appearances because he lives right above Harvard's commanders.

"I make sure I look OK before I go rushingoutside," Okazaki says. "There's always tourgroups out there and I don't want to give them thewrong impression."

But because entrances to the administrationoffices and student dorms are on separate sides ofthe building, other Mass Hall residents are quickto point out they don't have much more interactionwith the administration than do other students atthe College.

"The misconception exists that we seeRudenstine all the time, but that's not ture,"Julie C. Suk '97 says. "We have separate doors.There's no real reason for us to see him."

The result, in some minds, is that Mass Hall isreally two buildings.

"There are really two Mass Halls," Andrei H.Cerny '97 says. "One for the administration andone for the students."

Presidential Study Break

Still, Rudenstine occasionally drops by. Lastmonth, for example, the president had an hour-longstudy break with the dorm residents.