Spring Break
Brandeis will not add Friday classes
by Anya Bergman
News | 9/11/07
Posted online at 8:14 PM EST on 9/10/07
/ Last updated at 8:11 PM EST on 9/10/07
In an effort to curb student drinking on Thursday nights, some area colleges are offering more courses on Fridays, the Boston Globe reported last month. Brandeis officials, however, said the University has no plans to follow suit.
The Aug. 31 article cited a recent study that connects the amount of alcohol students consume on Thursdays with how students plan their Friday course load.
"The survey, published this summer in a research journal, found that students who don't take Friday classes consume twice as much alcohol on Thursday as those with early Friday classes," the article said.
Brandeis doesn't currently have any plans to add more classes to the Friday schedule, Associate Registrar Andrew Marx wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
"Generally speaking, we have not pushed to have more classes on Friday aside from satisfying the need to spread out classes over the course of the week as much as possible," Marx wrote.
Still, administrators are aware of Thursday night socializing.
"We're not na've," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said last Friday, regarding students socializing on Thursday nights. He added that overall, students are responsible and mature, and that the idea of adding more classes on Friday mornings hasn't crossed the minds of any administrators.
According to the Globe, however, Framingham State College is trying to institute more Friday classes in order to prepare students for adulthood.
"Thinking Monday through Thursday is not good preparation for reality. I can't think of anywhere else that's accepted besides a college campus," Susanne Conley, Framingham State's dean of students, said in the article.
Marx couldn't say whether enrollment for Friday classes is lower than for other days since the Add/Drop period hasn't ended.
Enrollment in Friday classes has not decreased in the last several years.
The Brandeis registrar shows that total enrollment for the 214 Friday classes offered in fall 2004 was 4,969 students, 5,107 students were enrolled in the 234 classes offered in fall 2005 and 5,445 students were enrolled in the 229 classes offered in fall 2006. Two hundred twenty five classes are being offered this fall.
The Aug. 31 article cited a recent study that connects the amount of alcohol students consume on Thursdays with how students plan their Friday course load.
"The survey, published this summer in a research journal, found that students who don't take Friday classes consume twice as much alcohol on Thursday as those with early Friday classes," the article said.
Brandeis doesn't currently have any plans to add more classes to the Friday schedule, Associate Registrar Andrew Marx wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.
"Generally speaking, we have not pushed to have more classes on Friday aside from satisfying the need to spread out classes over the course of the week as much as possible," Marx wrote.
Still, administrators are aware of Thursday night socializing.
"We're not na've," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said last Friday, regarding students socializing on Thursday nights. He added that overall, students are responsible and mature, and that the idea of adding more classes on Friday mornings hasn't crossed the minds of any administrators.
According to the Globe, however, Framingham State College is trying to institute more Friday classes in order to prepare students for adulthood.
"Thinking Monday through Thursday is not good preparation for reality. I can't think of anywhere else that's accepted besides a college campus," Susanne Conley, Framingham State's dean of students, said in the article.
Marx couldn't say whether enrollment for Friday classes is lower than for other days since the Add/Drop period hasn't ended.
Enrollment in Friday classes has not decreased in the last several years.
The Brandeis registrar shows that total enrollment for the 214 Friday classes offered in fall 2004 was 4,969 students, 5,107 students were enrolled in the 234 classes offered in fall 2005 and 5,445 students were enrolled in the 229 classes offered in fall 2006. Two hundred twenty five classes are being offered this fall.
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Monty
posted 9/11/07 @ 8:19 PM EST
In 4 years of college, I never once took a class of Friday. I also never drank for the first two years of college. Reason? As noted in this article, this is one of the only opportunities in "real life" to have a 3-day weekend. (Continued…)
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