With the sky still dark, thousands of alarm clocks shriek across campus and in students' apartments.

Soon, lines of caffeine-starved zombies snake out of coffee shops in the HUB-Robeson Center. Groggy students wander into classrooms where some of them nod off to resume the dreams they left just minutes ago.

Once 8 a.m. classes begin, it's an uphill battle for both professors trying to gain attention and students struggling to stay awake.

Just ask Frederick Brown, associate professor of psychology, who's been teaching college students for 27 years.

"I find it's extremely difficult to get students excited and awake and really into their studies," Brown said of 8 a.m. classes. "I know that a lot of students try to avoid them like the plague."

But the difficulties of early morning classes are decreasing at Penn State, if only slightly.

Just over a year ago, Penn State President Graham Spanier proposed reducing the number of 8 a.m. classes at University Park. While a comparison of the fall 2002 and 2003 course schedules did not indicate much of a difference in the number of early classes, officials say progress has been made toward the initiative for 2004.

"I continue to believe that Penn State must become a more student-centered university," Spanier said in an e-mail message at the end of the fall semester, reiterating his point from a year ago. "This includes more flexible scheduling of classes ... and fewer classes at times such as 8 a.m., which are not popular with the majority of students."

'Nobody likes' 8 a.m. classes

Spanier first publicly mentioned some mild disdain for 8 a.m. classes in November 2002. During a meeting with the Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly, Spanier was asked how he planned to make Penn State a more "student-centered" university.

"Why are we offering so many classes at 8 a.m.? Nobody likes them," Spanier responded.

A week later, Spanier told The Daily Collegian that he would be urging administrators to schedule fewer 8 a.m. classes and to move them to later in the day, citing hopes for improved "attendance, motivation and alertness."

Frank Miller (senior-psychology) seems to be the type of student -- or, as Spanier says, among the majority of students -- whom the university president is targeting with this initiative.

Miller took an 8 a.m. class his freshman year, and it's not something he would gladly do again.

"If I absolutely had to, but it wouldn't be my first preference," Miller said.

Little or no visible change to the list of available courses came in the spring and fall semesters of 2003. Spanier had said the shift would be very gradual in order to assess student response.

A comparison of spring 2004 course schedules with previous spring schedules shows fluctuating changes, with some disciplines moving away from 8 a.m. and others adding earlier courses. For example, the number of 8 a.m. undergraduate Spanish classes slowly rose from nine in spring 2002, to 10 in 2003, to 11 in spring 2004. But the number of mathematics classes has steadily dropped each spring from 17 in 2002 to 13 for 2004.

Students taking economics this semester have only two 8 a.m. classes to choose between -- the same as last spring. Meanwhile, the number of undergraduate classes in chemistry dropped from eight last spring to seven for 2004.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Janis Jacobs said she asked associate deans of each college in spring 2003 to reduce their numbers of 8 a.m. classes where possible.

"They were definitely asked to reduce them, and I think they all tried," she said. "We have tried to move things to more agreeable times for everybody."

The deans reported back with both changes and difficulties.

Room to grow -- and wake up later

Jacobs pointed out that the College of Communications reduced its number of 8 a.m. classes by 2 percent. Only about 9 percent of all University Park classes are at 8 a.m.

However, an analysis shows a reduction of early communications classes from 15 in fall 2002 to 12 in fall 2003, but an increase from seven in spring 2003 to nine in spring 2004. An increased number of overall classes may have contributed to the jump.

Jacobs also said the Smeal College of Business Administration was able to move a 700 student 8 a.m. lecture to a more bearable time of day.

But other colleges that schedule long lab courses at 8 a.m. told Jacobs it would be too cumbersome to shift times.

University Registrar James Wager said there has been a small, but "measurable change" in the frequency of 8 a.m. courses, adding that classrooms in new buildings allow more leeway to re-arrange class times.

The new chemistry and life sciences buildings are nearing scheduled completion and the Information Sciences and Technology Building had been expected to house students this semester. Other buildings in the works should add immensely to classroom space -- and flexibility.

Wager also said some colleges may finally be taking Spanier's initiative to heart.

"I know this is something that continues to be high on the president's priority," Wager said.

Jacobs said she has also encouraged making classes that would otherwise occur in the early morning hours into online courses.

"I think that's a fairly innovative response and one that students will respond well to," she said. "I think our biggest goal is to have a variety of options available."

Those options, Jacobs said, are to benefit students and faculty on both sides of the 8 a.m. issue.

Some people argue that universities should be preparing students for the workforce, thus encouraging them to get up at an early hour, Jacobs said. Others think that if students don't want early classes, it's pointless to schedule them because professors will be fighting an uphill battle and less learning takes place.

'The reality of campus life'

Psychology professor Brown, who said he found it difficult to teach drowsy students at 8 a.m., has been studying the rhythms of life for more than 30 years.

He said college students, especially underclassmen, are evening-oriented, more like adolescents than adults.

Social activities also influence college students to stay up later, Brown said. Such pressures include going out to bars or even chatting on the Internet.

"That's the reality of campus life," he said.

Then, when evening-oriented students stay up late and wake up for early classes, their sleep deprivation worsens, making it harder and harder to rouse themselves in the morning.

Fifteen percent of the general population is considered extreme morning people, while another 15 percent are classified as extreme evening people, Brown said. But behavior within the college population makes students much more like the evening-oriented type.

For those who simply can't get to sleep before 1 a.m., it's not necessarily their fault. Brown said there is no question that the extreme type people differ biologically from others.

"They can't really help it because there's a genetic component to it," he said.

Brown said he and a colleague have preliminary data indicating that students might actually select their majors depending on whether they will have to wake up early or late when they enter a career in a particular field.

University officials say they are keeping in mind that students fall on both sides of the spectrum. Spanier has said that he in no way wants to totally eliminate 8 a.m. classes.

"There's people on both sides," Jacobs said.

On the other side, perhaps in the minority, are students like Paul Branson (sophomore-aerospace engineering). But it might just be the type of class he had at 8 a.m.

Last semester, Branson didn't take an 8 a.m. lecture -- which he tries to avoid -- but a class that requires physical activity: racquetball.

"It wasn't that bad because I figured playing racquetball that early helps keep you awake for the rest of the day," he said. "I'd do it again next semester if I could."

He called 8 a.m. classes a "necessary evil," and said Spanier's plan might not be the best thing to do.

"I think it's stupid," he said. "It will just make 9 o'clock the next 8 a.m., and people will sleep later and people will just whine about it more."

Brown also raised this possibility.

He said that if some classes are delayed past 9 a.m., students may stay up later simply because they don't have an 8 a.m. class.

Jacobs, who has been spearheading Spanier's initiative, hopes this will not be the case.

"I guess I can imagine that happening," she said. "I would hope that students could get up by 9 o'clock."

Still work to do

The work on 8 a.m. class reductions isn't over yet.

"We have made some modest progress in the schedule for 2004-05, I believe, but such progress will, by design, be modest and gradual," Spanier said in the e-mail message.

Jacobs said she hasn't heard much student input on the 8 a.m. class issue, even soon after Spanier's idea was announced.

Jacobs brought up the early class issue with counterparts from other Big Ten universities during a conference last month, but said the other schools are not trying any similar initiatives. And while she said she is a morning person herself, Jacobs expects to work more on allowing for students to wake up later this year.

"I think we just have to see how it goes," Jacobs said. "It's something that we have to continue monitoring, and we have to be creative to come up with different solutions."