ALISA OPPENHEIMER
News Editor
Students are taking initiative and demanding that Fredonia consider adding a break to this semester due to an overload of work and mental health issues that come along with that.
On March 11, a petition titled “STUDENTS NEED A BREAK,” made waves on social media platforms within the campus community.
On the day it was posted, the petition’s ultimate goal was to reach 100 signatures.
This was later surpassed with 315 signatures and the goal was changed to 500.
With the petition gradually gaining more attention, the goal changed to 1,000 signatures within the next few days and the goal, again, was surpassed.
The signature goal on the petition is at 1,500 and there are over 1,000 signatures.
It’s been about a week since the petition was created and it’s still gaining signatures by the day.
But what made so many people jump to sign this petition so quickly?
If you take a look at the comments on Change.org, it’s evident that most of the reasons for signing have to do with being overworked, and because of this, students seem to be experiencing a decrease in their mental health.
One anonymous commenter on the site said, “I am drained and need a break.”
“I am normally a straight A student. My grades are suffering from constant work and stress,” said another.
Another student commented, “School has been nonstop and I feel guilty and behind if I decide to do anything other than school work. I have to choose between school, work and spending time with my loved ones. It’s a sacrifice that’s hurting me mentally.”
According to Makayla Alexander, these are similar reasons she and her roommate, Taylor Post, created the petition.
“Taylor had a terrible time in her class with her professor referring to her as a ‘lazy student,’ and it led to a conversation about how overworked we felt and just how hard we were working to stay afloat,” said Alexander.
Alexander has also faced a heavy workload, and has seen it directly affect her grades, so she felt passionate about the topic as well.
“This semester has been terrible for me. I haven’t been able to keep up academically or mentally. The past two semesters I had above a 3.0 GPA, and at the moment I have three classes that I have Ds in,” she said.
“We decided after about an hour’s worth of conversation of mental health, burnout, receiving too much work from teachers and the overwhelming weight of the current world climate we are in, that we should start a petition to get a break of some sort,” she continued.
One thing Alexander makes particularly clear is that while this petition is asking for time off, the main goal also has to do with bringing attention to the matter, in general.
“The ultimate goal of this petition is to raise awareness of the common struggle that we, the students here at Fredonia, are facing,” she said.
But in the end, she also feels strongly that we need to see actions being taken as well.
“We hope to either get the attendance policy revoked, mental health days, a long weekend or really any other form of break they can allow us to have.”
Alexander and Post are blown away by the amount of attention their petition has received.
“The night we made it, we expected that maybe 100 people maximum would sign it because we are two random girls on campus who decided to stand up for ourselves and fellow students,” said Alexander.
“I feel like it goes to show the magnitude of the situation and how this is a campus-wide issue and affecting all of us.”
Although the petition has reached so many, the people who make these decisions, did not seem to notice or acknowledge it.
According to Alexander, as of March 17, she hadn’t heard anything from the school regarding the petition.
When Dr. Cedric Howard was asked to comment on the petition, he admitted that he had not even heard about it.
Interim Provost Kevin Kearns, the person who ultimately has final say in the academic calendar was asked to comment, he said that this was news to him, as well.
“Cabinet will be discussing the petition and responding once we’ve had an opportunity to discuss it,” said Kearns.
As of Thursday, students have speculated that President Kolison had finally looked over the petition.
In his weekly update email, he said: “Some of you have written to me about a mental health day. I will need to explore that with the academic leadership/faculty. I will get back to you. However, in the meantime, I want to again emphasize the mental health support resources available to help students who are struggling as the semester moves along. Fredonia has services available through the Counseling Center so students can talk openly and confidentially.”
Kolison also recommended an app called “MyStrength” and an emotional support line phone number for struggling students.
While this email didn’t directly acknowledge the petition specifically, many students, including Alexander, believe that the petition was what inspired those words.
Within the next week or so, we can only hope to see Fredonia taking action for its students, but as of now all they can do is continue to raise awareness.
Alexander wants anyone who takes part in making these decisions to know that “We deserve a break.”