The student burnout crisis

by Will Andriola ’21, Managing Editor

As Opinion section editor Talia Rosen ’23 ably describes, the conspicuous lack of a fall break is having negative effects on student mental health and wellbeing. Students simultaneously face the cascading crisis of a deadly pandemic, the challenges of online classes, a tumultuous political environment, and missing friends, even as many “pressure release valves” of a typical semester are unavailable. Campus lacks a certain spontaneity we once enjoyed; hours-long meals in Commons or the excitement of weekends have been replaced by a more structured, isolated campus life. Underlying all these changes is an air of looming uncertainty. Even our sense of “Hamilton as home” is precarious in these times: with very little warning, we could be asked to pack our things and leave, or even be asked not to return in the spring, based on conditions almost entirely outside the control of any individual. Professors describe classes full of “million-yard stares” even as professors themselves deal with the additional workload the pandemic has foisted upon them. While many students are extremely grateful to be back, and grateful for the effort it took to pull off an in-person semester, burnout threatens to overwhelm these positive sentiments.

There is a better way. Hamilton should look to peer institutions, like Amherst, which randomly declared all classes cancelled last Tuesday, or Colby, which included a fall break in its original schedule for the semester. Indeed, Hamilton acknowledges the need for breaks with the spring semester schedule, which allocates two days as “wellness days.” It’s too late to “decompress” the fall semester, and impossible to have anything resembling a normal semester during a global pandemic. But to ignore the immense burden on students in a time like this is to leave Hamilton a sadder, more stressful place than it needs to be. Even a single wellness day would go a long way to alleviate some pressure and rekindle the joy of being in this place we all love.

Sincerely,

Will Andriola ’21

Managing Editor