The spring ISU Blood Drive brought in a lot of donors over the week, but it fell short of the donations from last fall.

This year’s blood drive was only four days long, dropping Friday, the shortest and typically busiest day for donations. The next three semesters will also see the traditionally weeklong event held in the Durham Great Hall of the Memorial Union shortened to four days.

“We weren’t able to book the Great Hall for a Friday drive until Fall of ’09,” said Nicole Berkeley, co-director of the ISU Blood Drive and senior in dietetics. “I think that’s definitely going to have a negative effect on the number of donations we’ll be able to get.”

This year’s blood drive took in approximately 1,800 donations, Berkeley said, 700 short of the 2,500 units collected last semester.

The lack of a Friday drive wasn’t the only thing responsible for the lower turnout this semester. Due to a communication error, a mass e-mail was sent to ISU students incorrectly stating that the Blood Drive was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. every day, rather than 10 a.m., as scheduled.

Normally, the blood drive starts at 9 a.m., the start time was changed to 10 a.m. by the Red Cross, which is responsible for Des Moines donations, and the Blood Center of Iowa, which is responsible for donations from Omaha, Waterloo and Ottumwa.

“Having a full week could have helped a lot. Friday is almost always the busiest day,” Berkeley said.

Students donated their time and blood for different reasons. The ISU Blood Drive’s Web site lists 18 courses offering extra credit to donors.

Free pizza parties were also awarded to the residence halls and greek pairing with the most donors. Henderson House, from Friley Hall, Platt House, from Willow Hall, and Miller House, from Elm Hall, all won pizza parties. The greek winners will be named Sunday.

Brent Behrens, fourth-time donor and senior in speech communication, donated Wednesday. Behrens was given a novice Blood Drive attendant, who inserted a needle incorrectly into his arm. After an experienced Blood Drive volunteer saw the botched insertion, the needle was taken out quickly before any damage was done and after only three-fourths of a pint had been drawn from him.

Despite the scheduling conflicts and lower number of donations, Berkeley was positive about the outcome of the spring drive.

“Turnout was great for the amount of time we had. In fact, we had the highest turnout from the greek houses in the past three years,” she said.