Wednesday has been a ‘light day’ since the 1970s at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, said Charles Kornik, who manages scheduling at the school.

‘Since the late 1970s, there’s been a wholesale conversion of academic programs to one that involves students at the junior and senior level doing projects for graduation,’ Kornik said.

As a result, all undergraduate courses are offered on a quarterly schedule, with Wednesday as a time for underclassmen to work on labs and older students to research their projects, which are often connected with outside technical firms.

If Syracuse University adopts the proposed paradigm, its system would be similar to WPI’s: The bulk of classes would be offered Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Kornik said the situation would be very different due to the fact that intense work is demanded of WPI students on Wednesdays – especially of older students who are focused on completing their upperclassmen projects.

However, an underlying concern – or reason for excitement – about going to the new paradigm is that Tuesday will become ‘the new Thursday,’ with events such as the ‘beer tour’ held every Tuesday at Faegan’s Cafe and Pub on South Crouse Avenue.

‘What’s a weekday, anyway?’ said Collin Long, a senior international relations major at SU. ‘It’s just a day where you know you have work the next day. This is just going to make Tuesday no different from Friday or Saturday.’

Students at WPI confirmed Long’s attitude.

‘Most of the population after their freshman year lives off campus in fraternity houses,’ said Steve Burgeron, a WPI student. ‘Every Tuesday night is a drinking night because Wednesday is lab day – you just have to wake up by 12 o’clock.’

Burgeron also said the greek contingent of WPI’s population is about 60 percent. At a school of 2,200 people, 1,320 students are greek. SU’s greek percentage is officially about 20 percent, which translates to more than 2,400 greek students at SU.

‘Tuesday nights are very much thrown away,’ Burgeron said. ‘Once classes are done, everyone goes out and drinks.’

Other students at SU were more optimistic about the policy.

‘I don’t feel that there would be an increase,’ said Sherman Hasselstrom, a sophomore broadcast journalism major. ‘It will give students more time to do their work during the week and party on weekends.’

Published on September 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm