"Many organizations store their files and belongings in the dormitory or House rooms of members, or even hold their meetings in students' rooms, often crowding student suites and inconveniencing roommates," Lewis says.

The council, which has long advocated a student center, has in the past used these sorts of acknowledgments by Lewis to make the case for a common space for students.

But Lewis is wary of this argument.

"I have never been supportive of the idea of a 'student center' as it is generally understood--a gathering place with soft couches, pizzas and big screen TVs in the middle of campus," he wrote in an e-mail.

Instead, Lewis argues in the report for a number of remedies, including better use of space in the Houses.

Lewis also suggests that residential space problems in the Houses are serious enough to warrant some changes, though he declines to use the word "overcrowding."

"We would be well-served to recognize that with the present housing stock we should be housing about 100 fewer students in the Houses than we now are," he reports.