Empty bottles of Jagermeister and beer-soaked plastic cups litter the kitchen counter of biology freshman Sean McDonough’s Brightside Drive apartment.
Ten of McDonough’s friends surrounded a keg of chilled Natural Light on the apartment’s balcony Nov. 15, some lighting cigarettes and some filling their cups before joining the rest of McDonough’s guests in the next round of Drunk Bus, a drinking card game.
This may sound like a typical Friday night to many University students, but this party is not happening on a Friday.
This is just another Thursday evening for McDonough and his friends.
Thursday night partying among college students is part of a growing national trend of kicking off the weekend celebration one day earlier than the traditional start of the weekend.
“We started this a couple weeks ago,” McDonough said, slightly raising his voice to be heard over the combined noise of his stereo, playing Queen’s “Under Pressure,” and the sound of his friends laughing as someone lost the card game. “We’ve all had tests this week, and we like to get together afterward to relieve stress.”
The New York Times reported in a Nov. 6 article that many university students throughout the country are using Fridays as a recovery day after a night of partying, some calling Thursdays “thirstdays.”
The Thursday night trend has become so popular that some University students said they schedule their classes to avoid having to go to class Friday.
“My weekend normally starts on Thursdays,” said Richard Strope, undecided freshman and friend of McDonough. “I like to think of it as a warm-up for the weekend.”
Sarah Omojola, English senior, said she enjoys using Fridays as a day of rest.
“On Fridays, I like to lounge around and watch movies,” Omojola said. “I don’t blow off my Friday classes, but sometimes I go hung-over.”
University Registrar Robert Doolos said the University has been working for several years to avoid having LSU become a four-day-a-week campus because he and members of his staff noticed a developing inclination among students to avoid class on Fridays.
“We began working on this in 2000, when former Provost Dan Fogel noticed that fewer students were scheduling Friday classes,” Doolos said. “We began spreading classes over a greater period of the day and moving more classes onto Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”
Doolos said the University wanted to avoid having classrooms sitting vacant during the week if they could avoid it.
“It hadn’t happened yet, but the trend was moving toward having a large portion of campus not being used one day out of the week,” he said.
He also said the University had to require departments to offer a certain number of classes on Fridays to avoid scheduling problems.
“We wouldn’t be able to offer the number of sections we offer now if we were a four-day-a-week campus,” he said. “When you compact things, it makes it more difficult to schedule classes, and people would have a difficult time getting their degrees.”
Though many students said they like to begin drinking or partying on Thursday nights, not all students think it is a good idea.
“I like to schedule my tests on Fridays, so I can’t really go out on Thursday nights,” said Matt Strain, biology freshman. “I am in a fraternity though, and they usually have their exchanges on Thursday night.”
Strain said some of his friends do not even wait until Thursday to start their weekend, and many begin partying much earlier in the week.
Strain said he has been teased for attending class on Fridays by both his friends and older family members.
“My sister, who is a senior, actually asked me why I go to class on Friday,” he said.
Steve Pomarico, biology instructor, said the attendance in his 250-person Biology 1002 class is drastically smaller on Fridays.
“The trend has been there for several years,” Pomarico said. “I teach an 8:30 to 9:30 class, and some students extend their weekend so long that they aren’t even making it back Monday morning. I cannot think of any other reason for this except for people starting their weekends early.”
Pomarico said the few students who do attend class on Friday do not seem enthusiastic to be there.
“The attitude of the students in class on Fridays is different,” he said. “They look around and see all of the empty chairs and feel like saps for attending class when few others are. It’s an unspoken peer pressure to skip class on Friday.”
Saundra McGuire, Center for Academic Success director, said a four-day school week could negatively affect students’ grades.
“It’s more likely to be detrimental than not because the best learning is when a student sees material everyday,” McGuire said. “The more you look at material, the more connections you see. Repetition is the key to learning.”
While McGuire said she thinks a four-day school week is probably not a good idea, she said a disciplined student may be able to be successful without going to class five days a week.
“It’s all about self-discipline,” she said. “If you take the day off to look over your notes or study your material, it’s possible to maintain good grades.”