Word: size
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...blocking group size inappropriately decreases students' control over how they want to live in a system which has already deprived students of much choice...
...long as we accept the goals of randomization, we must also support this latest move to reduce blocking group size. Sixteen-person blocking groups were simply too large. Rather than selecting a small group of potential roommates to enter the lottery with, many undergraduates sought to enter their new Houses with an entire social circle already intact. This represented a great obstacle to social mixing and has inhibited the development of a new, post-randomization House life. The ability to block with all of your friends certainly makes one feel safer and more secure, but the comfort of the individual...
There is also good reason to think that eight is a bad size for a blocking group. There are suites of more than eight people in many houses. Some students do in fact have close friendship groups of more than eight people, and the lower limit would make the blocking process even more difficult for first-years. Such a low limit also makes it more difficult for mixed-gender blocking groups, which must already divide up into rooming groups...
...anything, this move is an admission of failure on the College to provide an attractive House community post-randomization and a belated attempt to remedy the error by decree. If students want to make new friends after freshman year, they can, regardless of blocking group size. Eliminating choice is not the answer...
...Crimson played grass-style hockey in the first, over-emphasizing dribbling and two-touch passes in the midfield. In the second, Harvard accentuated the one-touch and opened up the field, taking advantage of its speed and size on the turf...