Iowa City may not be able to close the bars for underage attendees, but the university is installing an effort to combat weeknight binge drinking.

According to the University of Iowa’s Web site, the university is now calling for more courses scheduled on Fridays. The report requests that each academic unit in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reschedule “at least one or two well-attended or required 50 or 75 minute courses to include a Friday.”

Thomas Rocklin, vice provost and dean of the university college at Iowa, wrote in an e-mail that the initiative had been considered for some time now, but a study released by the University of Missouri-Columbia demonstrated that Friday classes reduce binge drinking on Thursday nights.

“That study convinced us that it was time to act,” Rocklin wrote.

The study, which was conducted by psychology researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, looked at more than 3,000 first-year students at the university who completed a continual four-year online survey, said Philip Wood, professor of quantitative psychology in the College of Arts and Science’s department of psychological sciences at Missouri-Columbia.

“What we found was that [Friday classes scheduled before 10 a.m.] were associated with less alcohol consumption on Thursday,” Wood said.

He acknowledged some students may take classes that are convenient for their drinking schedule, which may skew data. To address this, the study noted students who took an early Friday class one semester and didn’t another semester. There was a dramatic difference where early Friday classes can reduce drinking fairly dramatically, he said.

Although Iowa’s move to have more Friday classes hopes to mimic study results by reducing “Thirsty Thursday” binge drinking, student morale and additional aspects of the study may prove the move less effective than desired.

“Basically, [more Friday classes to reduce drinking] is not a magic pill,” Wood said. “We found that students with early Friday classes are less likely to drink, but if they do go out, and they have a late Friday class, the odds are 2 in 3 that they’ll binge drink.”

David Holger, associate provost for academic programs at Iowa State, said Iowa State will not imitate such a proposal because there are not substantially fewer Friday classes than classes on other weekdays.

In addition to results from the survey, several students at the University of Iowa are skeptical.

Sara Castillo, junior in communications at Iowa, said she thinks the move for more Friday classes would be ineffective to the objective Iowa is trying to fulfill.

She said the initiative may work if the school tried an different approach.

“A lot of people don’t go out on the night before a test, and if they always designated Fridays as test days, it may work,” she said. “But I don’t think a normal [Friday class] will do anything.”

Lucas Vander Woude, freshman in pre-pharmacy at Iowa, felt similar to Castillo.

“I think that if kids really want to drink, they’re probably not going to take classes on Friday, whether [classes] are available on Friday or not,” he said.

Although the evidence shows many students will still drink if they have a Friday class, especially if the class is later in the day, Iowa hopes the initiative will send a message to students that emphasizes the serious nature of being a student, to reduce binge drinking, and to better utilize campus facilities, Rocklin said.