Thursday nights: Oh, how faculty loathe thee.
At Oklahoma State, many students participate in a long-running tradition of starting the weekend early by getting “smashed” on Thursday nights.
Whether at a bar or at a friend’s party, alcohol dominates many students’ plans.
For students old enough to drink legally, Washington Street — or the Strip — is the city’s best spot for bar-going.
Thursday and Friday nights are the Strip’s busiest nights of the week, said Scott McGehee, a bouncer at the Copper Penny, one of the Strip’s six bars.
Students under 21 tend to turn to house parties, giving the Stillwater Police Department plenty of noise complaints and underage drinking violations.
Police said they increase the number of officers on duty on Thursdays to handle all of the traffic.
There is no question that students party on Thursdays, but alcohol can be a big problem for college students, especially freshmen.
Linda Myers, an alcohol and substance abuse counselor who works at University Counseling Services, said incoming freshmen have the highest rate of alcohol abuse at Oklahoma State.
“They’ve been at home with parents, rules and regulations,” Myers said. “It’s their first time away from home, and they’ve got a taste of freedom.”
An estimated 1,400 college students die of alcohol-related causes each year, according to a University Health Services Web site. The site reports that 1,100 of these deaths involve drinking and driving.
Although Thursday nights have long dominated the drinking scene in Stillwater, Calvin Smith, owner of The Barn, said he thinks they are losing their popularity. He attributed the drop to the fact that fewer students go home on the weekends than in the past and said Friday has become the biggest party night of the week.
Smith added that he sells more Barn sodas on Thursday than alcohol.
Staff Writer Angela Tinker contributed to this story.
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