UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 9.1995
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More classroom seats are vacant on Fridays than on any other day. Professors say they are not sure whether students are home in bed or out of town for the weekend, but the result is the same — more empty seats.
THE WEEKEND STARTS TONIGHT
WEEKEND, Continued from Page 1A
on Wednesdays and 254 on Thursdays.
"It's obvious that people are beginning the weekend early because the cars just aren't in the parking lots on Fridays," Hultine says. "Officers will come in on Friday afternoons and say, 'there's nothing out there; it's dead.'"
Forgetting Friday may be a trend that is picking up speed, says Tom Eflen.
general manager of the University Daily Kansan. In the past two or three years, he has noticed a decline in the number of newspapers picked up on Fridays.
"We think that is a reflection of fewer students coming to campus on Fridays," Eblen says. "Fridays used to be comparable to Mondays and Wednesdays, but recently we have seen 300 to 500 fewer papers picked up on Fridays than on other days."
Eblen has adjusted the Kansan's Friday press run accordingly, and other campus businesses also have compensated.
Denise Svagliic, supervisor of Wescoe Terrace cafeteria, says she can count on fewer students buying food on Fridays.
"Friday is consistently the slowest day of the week," Swaglic says. "I don't think it has anything to do with faculty or staff. The Friday numbers are the lowest each week because students aren't here on Fridays."
Mark Lohrenz, manager of Union Square cafeteria, also sees fewer students at Union Square each Friday.
"I was a student, and I know the way it works."
The following numbers show the customer count at Wescoe Terrace from Oct. 31 through Nov. 4, 1994.
Lunch. anvone?
Micah Laaker / KANSAN
Lohrenz says. "Students skip out early on Fridays, or they skip the day entirely. They're not buying food because they're not going to class."
More than just laziness
Richard Morrell
University registrar
But the four-day academic week goes beyond cut classes and hangovers. Some students are not coming to campus on Fridays because the University
... I'm sure that Friday is not students' favorite day to attend classes."
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offers fewer Friday classes
classes.
According to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, the number of room contact hours at the University was lowest on Fridays last semester. One classroom in use for one hour equals one room contact hour.
The number of room contact hours on Fridays was 1,310 last semester, while the number of room contact hours was 1,554 on Mondays: 1,550 on
Tuesdays; 1,592 on Wednesdays and 1,508 on Thursdays.
Scheduling practices of three of KU's professional schools have contributed to the decline in Friday classes. The schools of business and journalism offer few classes on Fridays, and the school of social welfare teaches no Friday classes at all.
V. K. Narayanan, associate dean for academic affairs for the School of Business, says the school simply is scheduling in a way that makes sense for everyone.
The School of Business schedules most classes on Mondays and Wednesdays or on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Most discussion sections are scheduled on Fridays.
"This allows us to schedule faculty meetings and research seminars on Fridays," he says. "The faculty can focus on administrative tasks on Fridays, and we also can schedule professional-development speakers on Fridays for students."
The School of Journalism began reducing the number of classes taught on Fridays during the 1988-89 school year so faculty members would have a block of time each week to concentrate on research, creative activities and service, Kautsch says. This semester, only eight journalism classes out of 62 offered meet on Fridays.
"It's not a matter of dropping classes," Kautsch says. "It's simply shifting classes into a different time slot. The same number of classes is concentrated in four days instead of five."
The arrangement offers advantages for faculty and students, Narayanan says.
Mike Kautsch, dean of the School of Journalism, agrees. Scheduling a small number of classes on Fridays is simply a time shift. he says.
A four-day academic week isn't laziness, Narayanan says. It is just a different way of scheduling classes.
Ann Weick, dean of the School of Social Welfare, says a simple explanation exists for the school's lack of Friday classes.
"Now, we have a common time for research and creative activities, and we can schedule meetings on Fridays as well," Kautsch says.
All social welfare students must take a field practicum and work in the community. Eliminating Friday classes allows students a common day to
complete their work as field interns.
"It's a requirement, and that's all there is to it," Weck says. "There's nothing more to be said on the subject."
Weick has little to say on the subject of a four-day week — and maybe with good reason.
Once the word spreads to taxpayers and legislators, those who advocate the four-day academic week may be asked to explain themselves to the Legislature, says Melanie Bell, a member of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Bell says no state-supported university can afford to publicly endorse a four-day week.
"The biggest concern is the political arena and taxpayers saying, 'If I have to work a five-day week, why can professors and students work only four days?' Bell says.
A 'quiet' national trend
Though universities aren't officially endorsing the four-day week, several universities across the country essentially have shortened the academic week to four days. Bell says.
But the administrators never would admit it.
"It's not advertised in any course catalog," Bell says. "University administrators will tell you that they wouldn't consider implementing a four-day week, but we know that it's happening."
Bell, who formerly served as registrar at the University of Washington, says the four-day week is most prevalent at universities using a quarter system — where most classes are five-credit courses, presumably taught five days each week. While the course catalog claims that classes are being taught five days a week, Bell says many professors teach only four days and designate the fifth as a "research day."
"State-supported universities aren't going to acknowledge or endorse this four-day week any time soon, though," she says.
David Lanier, university registrar at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says fear of public scrutiny has been a major consideration in the debate about his school of business' request to eliminate Friday classes.
In recent years, faculty and students at the school have clamored for the change, but the university has resisted. Lanier says.
"We don't want to send the message to the legislature that the university can operate on a four-day week," he says.
Professors at North Carolina don't want to teach
A room with a view
The number of room contact hours for Fall 1994 shows a decrease in Friday classes. One room in use for one hour equals one room contact hour.
Micah Laaker / KANSAN
Parking problems
Average number of parking tickets on campus issued in September 1994 is as follows.
Micah Laaker / KANSAN
on Friday afternoons, and students want to avoid Friday classes, Lanier says. But the university has not bowed to these demands.
State Rep. Cindy Empson, R-Independence, is the vice chairwoman of the legislative education planning committee. She says that her committee has studied in the past how professors are utilizing their time, and that she may reopen the issue in the near future.
"This is an ongoing issue that I'm sure we will continue to explore," she says.
"I think that we'll hold tight with our Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule," Lanier says. "The advocates are only thinking about personal convenience, but there are no advantages to a four-day week."
"Who wouldn't love to have a four-day week?" Empson says. "However, I would venture to guess that a four-day week at state universities is not going to be acceptable to the public."
While a four-day week may sound appealing to the university community, it could go over like a lead balloon with taxpayers. Empson savs.
Morrell, KU's registrar, says he is doubtful that KU will continue to decrease Friday class offerings indefinitely.
"Sometimes in the foreseeable future I think that we'll move in the other direction," Morrell says. "Public scrutiny and calls for accountability will have the effect of the University using its resources more efficiently."
'That's just the way college is'
Back outside the 18 Amendment on a Thursday night, students wait in the 18-moving line.
Trina Raney, Overland Park freshman, says social life at KU is much different than in high school. But she has made the adjustment.
"In high school, you didn't get to go out on week-nights," Raney says. "But now I go out on 75 percent of Thursdays."
Thursday is a better bar night than Friday or Saturday, she says. Many people go to parties on Fridays and Saturdays, but you can count on everyone being at the bars on Thursdays.
"It's simple — you finish your homework early in the week, and then you go out from then on." Raney says. "That's just the way college is. You can have really long weekends."
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