Survey says! Faculty Square Off in Furman Family Feud

For hours Wednesday night, cheers and laughter erupted from students inside a packed Watkins Room of the Trone Student Center as faculty played Furman Family Feud to find out who knows more about student life at Furman University.

The game, sponsored by the Student Activities Board (FUSAB), pitted professors sorted into teams by their degrees, each one determined and eager to win. Team BS (bachelor of science), Team BA (bachelor of arts) and Team BM (bachelor of music) answered FUSAB-created questions, such as “name a way students unwind after a long week.” A survey of 242 students supplied the answers. What was the top answer to the long week? Survey says: Sleep!

Other questions and answers included: Name somewhere to find a student if they have a free afternoon (by Furman Lake, in bed, pickleball court, coffee shop, practice/rehearsal, Swamp Rabbit Trail/Café), name the best study spot on campus (library, Trone Student Center, music library, Harry Potter room, science library, Furman Hall) and name a favorite Furman tradition (moonlight breakfast, LDOC/floating in fountains, homecoming, throwing people into the lake, cheering “FU All the Time”).

“It was fun to see people compete, especially professors who we know well and look up to, and Family Feud is always hilarious,” said Frances O’Shea ’25, an English literature-French double major from Charleston. She’s the FUSAB member who came up with the idea to play Family Feud and organized the entire event.

O’Shea said the “dedicated, funny professors” who were willing to play along made the night special. The role of Steve Harvey, the real-life Feud host, went to Jason Cassidy, dean of students and associate vice president for Student Life. Cassidy “knocked it out of the park,” O’Shea said.

John Quinn, the Henry Keith and Ellen Hard Townes Professor of Biology and director of Environmental Studies, played on Team BS to support the students and get to know them better.

Karen Allen, associate professor of sustainability science and a Team BS player, said “we’re at a point in the semester (one week from spring break) and in our lives when we really need joy, so I want to contribute to joy today.”

“Contribute to joy,” Quinn echoed. “And, I want to win.”

Liv Fletcher ’25, an educational studies major from Atlanta, came to support the professor who’s been her advisor all four years, Scott Henderson, a Team BA player, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Education and director of national and international scholarships.

FUSAB events are always fun, Fletcher said, and “it’s nice to see professors outside of an academic setting.”

At the end of the night, Team BM won the game, but everyone who participated could be counted a winner.

“No one could stop laughing, including me!” O’Shea said. “It was so much fun. I’m very thankful that we can have events like this at Furman. There’s something to be said about the relationships professors have with their students here. That truly is the Furman Advantage, in my opinion.”