To help combat excessive Thursday-night drinking, the University of Iowa has decided to add courses to its Friday class schedule. University of Iowa Provost Lola Lopes will spearhead the plan, named “Reclaiming Friday.”
Dean Phillip Jones said the strategy is part of the Matter of Degree grant, which the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gave to 10 universities to address binge-drinking on campuses.
Ten campuses that have implemented the approach prescribed by Matter of Degree have seen a decline in excessive drinking, according to evaluative data from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
“Drinking itself is not the problem, but drinking to get drunk,” Jones said.
While working with the Matter of Degree program, Iowa has partnered with other universities, including the University of Wisconsin, Jones said. He also said campuses are concerned the drinking culture is so pervasive it affects intellectual activity.
Jones added another objective of “Reclaiming Friday” is to emphasize that the focus of college is academics.
“It’s been an evolving social [norm] — not a habit so much as an expectation in the last couple of decades that Friday is not a workday,” Jones said. “Even professors have started to take off a day early and the contract is not for four days.”
Fabiola Rodriguez graduated from the University of Iowa in 2002 and remembers Thursday nights as a centerpiece of socializing in Iowa City.
“Personally, I wasn’t as much of a Thursday person because I actually had classes on Friday morning, but it’s definitely a tradition,” Rodriguez said. “I definitely made up for it [on] Friday.”
UW sophomore Eric Andres said he occasionally goes out Thursday nights. He said he doubts university incentives to increase the number of Friday classes would affect students, who could simply avoid registering for classes that meet Friday.
“I know several people who don’t have classes on Friday at all so they can do what they want with no repercussions on Thursday nights,” he said.
David Driscoll, bar manager of The Fieldhouse, a downtown Iowa City hotspot, said Thursday nights are very popular.
“I started coming down to Iowa City when I was 16 and I can’t see them doing away with Thursdays. It’s the most popular night,” he said.
Driscoll said the university’s actions are part of a larger nationwide trend that do not account for measures establishments have in place to manage intoxicated and unruly patrons.
Six bars that serve the University of Iowa campus recently formed the Iowa City Bar Association to proactively address the concerns of “Reclaiming Friday” and protect bars’ rights to offer profitable drink specials.
