Thursdays may be quiet with more Friday classes
Carla Keppler - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Metro
Iowa City's Thirsty Thursday may be no longer.
With nearly 100 additional courses scheduled on Fridays next fall, UI students may see Iowa City's Thursday-night party scene abate somewhat.
The spike comes as a result of a 2007 University of Missouri study, which showed that students with Friday classes consumed half as much alcohol as those who ended their academic week earlier. Findings led the UI to increase late-week courses in hopes of thinning the crowds downtown on Thursdays.
By using a monetary incentive, the UI enticed departments to shift courses to Fridays. The money can vary between UI colleges - the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences pays departments $20 per student per switched class.
In the fall of 2007, 1,402 courses were held on Fridays. Over the past few years, numbers fluctuated from a low of 1,234 - this semester - to 1,479. The number of courses will jump to 1,499 for the fall of 2008.
Rhetoric department head Mary Trachsel accepted the monetary incentive with open arms, and she plans to use it for teaching initiatives and faculty research.
She believes the transition will positively affect students.
"The likelihood that [students] are going to be drinking on Thursdays is less," she said. "It's not going to stop students that really want to go out, but the university is at least taking a stand."
Some students agree.
Junior Kyle Braheny has two Friday courses scheduled for the upcoming semester. Both, he said, are required to fulfill his math major.
Though he said there isn't anything he can do to get out of taking the classes, he thinks the university's decision to implement late-week courses might be a good idea in terms of curbing Thursday partying.
"If I had more Friday classes, I'd think twice about drinking on Thursday nights," he said.
Braheny said the early weekend party scene "has been a problem" recently and that he respects steps the UI is taking to address it.
"They've got to try to reach us somehow," he said. "I guess we'll see how it goes."
Nate Davis, a senior journalism and cinema major, is doubtful. In his opinion, Friday courses do little to prevent students from starting their weekends a day early.
"I've gone out Thursday nights knowing I had class Friday," he said. "And there are definitely people with a greater urge to party than I have. People are still going to go out."
But in Trachsel's mind, there are few, if any, drawbacks to the higher number of Friday courses.
"It's probably healthy to instill in teachers and students alike the idea that this is the real world," she said. "Being a student is like having a job - a full-time job - that needs to be taken seriously."
E-mail DI reporter Carla Keppler at:
carla-keppler@uiowa.edu
With nearly 100 additional courses scheduled on Fridays next fall, UI students may see Iowa City's Thursday-night party scene abate somewhat.
The spike comes as a result of a 2007 University of Missouri study, which showed that students with Friday classes consumed half as much alcohol as those who ended their academic week earlier. Findings led the UI to increase late-week courses in hopes of thinning the crowds downtown on Thursdays.
By using a monetary incentive, the UI enticed departments to shift courses to Fridays. The money can vary between UI colleges - the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences pays departments $20 per student per switched class.
In the fall of 2007, 1,402 courses were held on Fridays. Over the past few years, numbers fluctuated from a low of 1,234 - this semester - to 1,479. The number of courses will jump to 1,499 for the fall of 2008.
Rhetoric department head Mary Trachsel accepted the monetary incentive with open arms, and she plans to use it for teaching initiatives and faculty research.
She believes the transition will positively affect students.
"The likelihood that [students] are going to be drinking on Thursdays is less," she said. "It's not going to stop students that really want to go out, but the university is at least taking a stand."
Some students agree.
Junior Kyle Braheny has two Friday courses scheduled for the upcoming semester. Both, he said, are required to fulfill his math major.
Though he said there isn't anything he can do to get out of taking the classes, he thinks the university's decision to implement late-week courses might be a good idea in terms of curbing Thursday partying.
"If I had more Friday classes, I'd think twice about drinking on Thursday nights," he said.
Braheny said the early weekend party scene "has been a problem" recently and that he respects steps the UI is taking to address it.
"They've got to try to reach us somehow," he said. "I guess we'll see how it goes."
Nate Davis, a senior journalism and cinema major, is doubtful. In his opinion, Friday courses do little to prevent students from starting their weekends a day early.
"I've gone out Thursday nights knowing I had class Friday," he said. "And there are definitely people with a greater urge to party than I have. People are still going to go out."
But in Trachsel's mind, there are few, if any, drawbacks to the higher number of Friday courses.
"It's probably healthy to instill in teachers and students alike the idea that this is the real world," she said. "Being a student is like having a job - a full-time job - that needs to be taken seriously."
E-mail DI reporter Carla Keppler at:
carla-keppler@uiowa.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Alumni
posted 4/29/08 @ 9:57 AM CST
I was an engineering major, which has always included more Friday classes, and I drank nearly every Thursday night while staying successful. Don't let them stop you students!
Joe
posted 4/29/08 @ 12:03 PM CST
I was another student who had m-f and m-w-f classes at 8 and I came shitfaced on friday mornings and still got an A. It won't make much different. And still, instead of Thirsty Thursdays we will have Shitfaced Sunday Fundays, or the Downunder Munders. (Continued…)
Tom
posted 4/29/08 @ 12:07 PM CST
Ok well my other reply did not get posted. This is not going to stop anything. Students are going to drink anyways because they will a) not go to class friday, b) go hungover or c) because the classes are probably more later in the day, it will not even effect them. (Continued…)
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