By Shawn Bolan
Current residents might have expected crowding to be a temporary inconvenience at MacGregor lasting only this school year.  However, not only was resistance encountered in decrowding some of the suite lounges this term, but current projections tabulated by the Office of Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs indicate that "at this point we are expecting severe overall system crowding," according to Eliot Levitt of the Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs office.
MacGregor House President Chad Brooks does not doubt that the dorm will be crowded.  His main concern in this issue is trying to prevent full crowding.  He had hoped to set aside one suite per entry for kitchen facilities, but that proposal was recently rejected (see related story, page 3).
The house will not be informed of its exact crowded status until the freshman lottery has been conducted.  However, Bob Ramsay, MacGregor House Manager, believes that the dorm will undergo the same conditions as this past year, particularly since the house possesses very few open singles.  Housemaster Steve Lippard concurred saying that the success of freshman rush will be a key determinant in the degree of crowding. 
In the event that crowded lounges are to be decrowded next year, HouseComm moved in March to strengthen decrowding policy by adding a clause to the house constitution.  It states that students designated by lottery to decrowd must move within forty-eight hours of notification.  If the residents involved do not comply, they will be subject to penalties the following school year.  Namely, such persons will receive randomly selected room assignments only after all incoming freshmen have received theirs.
The measure, officially approved by Levitt, was prompted by objections posed to decrowding this term.  Mandatory decrowding lotteries were held with the opening of singles after IAP, but the complaint expressed by some crowded freshmen was that they were content with their rooms and were opposed to moving with so little time remaining in the term.
One set of roommates, selected to decrowd after the first lottery, was granted exemption on the basis of "personal reasons beyond anyone's knowledge in the house," according to D-Entry Chair Zvonimir Turcinov '95 of D-Entry. 
In a subsequent lottery here, two other freshmen were asked to decrowd but refused to do so.  Since no explicit house rule could force the move, HouseComm decided after considerable deliberation to permit the students to stay in their lounge without penalty.