"As a member of a minority community on campus whose numbers are less than 8 percent of the College, it's often difficult to have my voice heard," said J. Lewis Ford'97 to the crowd outside of University Hall. "Is it really fair to rob me of my experience as an African-American so that blacks can be sprinkled around this campus?" These concerns resurfaced in 1998, when 26 minority resident tutors criticized randomization in an open letter they sent to Harvard administrators. The tutors claimed that the decision to randomize had destroyed the "supporting and nurturing community" that existed before the 1995 move. "[T]hese communities...were vibrant primarily because various racial communities coexisted and thrived together," the letter read. "And the level of student interaction was sustained because students of color felt comfortable, academically, socially and personally.

"The tutors claimed that randomization presented a burden to minority students, who found themselves estranged without a support system. "By sprinkling a 'manageable' number of minority students in each of the 12 houses one does not necessarily ensure increased student interaction," the letter read.

The Final Move

Last year, the College reduced the size of blocking groups from 16 to eight, in an attempt to force students to socialize outside their blocking groups and integrate into the Houses as a whole.

In 1997, there had been 16 "large" blocking groups that were more than 50 percent black or Asian, according to a survey released by the Committee on House Life. Some minority students again say that they fear this change may be particularly hurtful to them. Not only have they lost the House-based ethnic groups that existed prior to randomization, but now, students say, they no longer have the ability to block together in large groups.

Two years ago, tutors had warned against reduced blocking size when they released their open letter.

Nicky Sheats, then a resident tutor in Eliot House, said, "If you reduce the blocking size, you're really limiting the ability of [minority students] to create community.

"And after the change, students still share his concerns.

Peter-Charles "PC" N. Bright'01, who is a member of a predominantly black blocking group in Dunster House, says that cutting the blocking group size is particularly unjust to black students.

"Minority students are more affected by everything just because there are so [many] fewer of us," he says.