caitlyn mahoney headshot vol 101
This semester has been hard on everyone. The lack of days off has left students and faculty members alike overwhelmed, drained and mentally struggling. After extensive discussions with community members and health professionals, Chancellor Randy Woodson has supposedly acknowledged our struggles.
On Oct. 22, Chancellor Woodson announced that instead of having one long spring break, those days off will be dispersed throughout the spring 2021 semester in order to provide various wellness days for faculty and students. While these wellness days are a step in the right direction, they do not do nearly enough to address the mental health struggles felt by the NC State community this semester.
A common complaint from students and faculty alike regarding the fall semester’s condensed schedule is that it provided no days off for NC State community members. This results in both students and faculty members constantly being stressed and overwhelmed with no time to step back and breathe. As an NC State student, I have not only felt this myself, but have also seen its effects on my professors.
My biology professor, Terry Gates, is a strong believer in “dressing for success.” At the beginning of the semester, he boasted about how he will always wear a suit and tie to class, even though class is happening in his bedroom, because that is what it means to be successful and professional. However, as the semester went on, the lack of days off visibly affected him. His suit and tie was replaced with T-shirts, and our lesson plans visibly slowed down as he admitted that he was struggling to keep up, just like we were.
Similarly, as a student, I can honestly admit that I have sat down at my computer to log into class after another jam-packed week and have started crying. I just wanted one second to breathe and to think about something besides the problems of the world. As a community, we have begun to slowly acknowledge this issue and our concerns have been heard.
The new spring 2021 semester calendar now includes four wellness days where professors are encouraged to avoid assigning deadlines, tests or other assignments. These days are meant to be used as days off to relax and mentally recuperate from the stressful and draining academic calendar. In theory, these days are exactly what NC State community members have been asking for, but will they actually address the problems we are suffering from?
The wellness days only achieve their goal if students use them to relax, not as a day to catch up on schoolwork. However, the placement of the majority of the wellness days are more beneficial for the latter purpose than the former. Out of all the days off, only one is placed in a way to give students an extended weekend. The rest are placed in the middle of the week and are between class days. The placement of the days off in the middle of the week may reduce the amount of assignments students need to do that week, but it doesn’t reduce the fact that they have to get work done, which means students are not getting an true break.
Many people are assuming that a main reason the University chose to place the wellness days in the middle of the academic week is to limit the ability of students to gather and potentially spread COVID-19 during the breaks. It is a common fear that long breaks, such as spring break or a three day-weekend, would result in students flooding to their hometowns, the beaches, their friends or other vacation spots. This could result in the students potentially exposing their destination communities to germs that were previously contained on campus, while also increasing the risk of the students bringing germs back to campus and infecting the whole community.
While this is a very valid fear, I would like to point out one thing. The placement of days off in consecutive order would allow students enough time to take an actual break and do something for themselves while still having enough time to complete their schoolwork. The whole point of these days is to give students time to focus on themselves, but four widely dispersed wellness days, unfortunately, will not let that happen.
No one can argue that the addition of wellness days in the spring 2021 calendar is progress, but until the University actually gives students a day solely for themselves, where they do not have to worry about catching up on that week’s assignments, it will not be enough.