Harvard Students Speak About Soaps

A group of hard core addicts met at Aggassiz House yesterday to discuss their habit with Kenneth J. Witty, the producer of public television's MacNeil-Lehrer Report, and June V. Cross '75, a reporter for the program. All admitted embarrassment at being unable and unwilling to break their habit--watching soap operas.

The MacNeil-Lehrer Report is producing a program about college courses on the art of soap opera production and appreciation, Witty said yesterday. Theater, sociology and communications departments at more than 20 colleges in the United States offer such courses, he added.

The producers of the show, called "Soap Operas Go to College," came to Harvard to see whether students at Ivy League schools are interested in soap opera courses and whether they watch the daytime programs, Cross said.

"If Harvard students are watching, it means everyone is watching," she said. "It the future leaders of America are watching, what does it mean for society in the 1980s?" she added. About 20 to 20 million people--20 per cent of them males--watch soap operas in the United States, Witty said.

Although only about ten students showed up at the meeting, all said they knew many others who watch soaps but are embarrassed to "confess." "A lot of people, especially here, really don't want to admit it," Richard A. Rohan '81 said yesterday. "They associate soaps with total mindlessness," he added.

"After I have three or four classes in the morning, it's really good to go home and just not think about anything," Rohan said.

Another student, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday he has "come very close to having coronaries" because he "gets so worked up" over the programs. "You are really living with these people. It really matters to you," another member of the group added.

Students at the meeting said they would take a soap opera course if Harvard offered it only if it did not conflict with their favorite programs. "I would definitely take it unless they offered it opposite 'One Life to Live'," Rohan said. Another student said he feels "almost sacrilegious" missing an episode.

Witty and Cross said they will return Monday to meet again with the group at 3:30 p.m. at Aggassiz House to film a segent for their program. They added they will also conduct interviews at Boston College