We’ve all thought it: Some professors load up classes on Fridays with extra material to ensure that students show up, regardless of how much partying was done the night before.

Some students think they’ve seen this happen, but is it an actual practice at Iowa State?

“Iowa State doesn’t have a policy that encourages this,” said Associate Provost David Holger. “I really don’t think there’s a conscious effort to say, ‘We need to make Friday especially important in terms of attendance.'”

However, just because it isn’t a policy doesn’t mean it can’t happen. The way class schedules are devised at Iowa State leaves it mostly up to the professors who teach the course. The exceptions are the core classes that most students have to take in order to graduate in a certain curriculum. For those, the department heads get a big say into how the classes are structured.

“Having loaded Fridays has happened to me before, in four or five classes,” said Kerry Von Weihe, junior in health and human performance. “Every Friday would have something that we just couldn’t miss. And the subjects were varied, not just one field,” Von Weihe said.

However, the question remains of whether this happens because of professors trying to counteract “Thirsty Thursday.”

“Thursday’s just one of the main nights to party,” said Blake Myers, junior in biology. “Not going to class isn’t the goal, it’s just what usually happens afterwards.”

Amie Rosman-Bakehouse, senior in psychology, said she just chalks it up to coincidence.

“I don’t think it’s intentional. When you only have two or three days a week to get together and have class, there’s a big chance that you’ll have work to do on Friday,” Rosman-Bakehouse said.

Some students who do drink on Thursday nights don’t go to class on Fridays.

“There’s definitely some kids who use Thirsty Thursday as an excuse to not go to class the next day, in my opinion,” said Terry Palmer, sophomore in marketing.

Holger said in the cases where loaded Fridays might occur, students shouldn’t think the professor is being malicious or extracting revenge for the night before.

“Some faculty might do that as a way to see what the student has learned; they say, ‘I want to spend some time earlier in the week doing things, and then on Friday, I want to see what you’ve learned,'” he said.

ISU students might just be unfortunate to have a group of professors like that. Holger said The Des Moines Register recently conducted a survey of the public Iowa universities about which ones had more classes on Friday, and Iowa State came out on top.

“Students don’t really complain for things that aren’t problems, so some students might genuinely feel that they’re being pushed too hard. But there’s no conscious effort to do so on the university’s part,” Holger said.

So next time there’s big material on a Friday, don’t rush to blame the professor, and try to think about the fact that the professor is probably just doing what he or she thinks is best for you.

“The teachers, for the most part, choose how to run their classes, and they want to help us learn. Some just have different styles,” Myers said.