Survey Shows South House Students Happy

Although most residents of South House did not choose to live there, an overwhelming majority of its residents plan to remain at the House for as long as they live on campus, according to results of a student poll released yesterday.

The poll, sponsored by the South House Committee, found that although 82 per cent of the House's residents did not apply to South House in the housing lottery, 75 per cent said they will stay there if they continue living on campus.

The poll's results refute the belief that "everybody living in South House doesn't want to live there and it's the most unpopular House on campus," Steven V. Winthrop '80, chairman of the South House Committee, said yesterday.

"Students have found South House to be a generally happy, friendly place to live," Warren E.C. Wacker, master of South House, said yesterday. "The feelings of belonging to a community have out-weighed the negative factors such as being so far away from the Yard," he added.

The poll supports the findings of studies the College has conducted in recent years which showed there is not a high correlation between a student's getting his choice of House and being happy in the House he finally lives in, Dean Fox said yesterday.

"Living in a House with good people, a good master, and good facilities are the things that make a happy House," Fox added.

The South House poll also found that: Fifty-eight per cent of the House's residents want the University to change its present policy on its holdings in companies or banks which conduct business in South Africa, while 20 per cent supported the policy.

Thirty-eight per cent support the Core Curriculum, while 29 per cent oppose it and 33 per cent did not express an opinion.

On a scale ranging from "very happy" to "disappointed," most students who answered the question rated their life at Harvard as "reasonably happy."

"Before polls like this are taken there are many quick and hasty conclusions about what the students think, and the results of this poll show that there are lots of surprises to refute these rumors," Winthrop said