Sponsored by the Mental Health Committee and endorsed by BU Student Government

On September 29th, 2020, an email was sent to the BU community from University Provost & Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison. This email informed students that Spring Semester would now start on January 25th and this academic year there would be no Spring Recess. 

While we understand that Spring Recess was removed with the intention to keep our community safe and prevent people from traveling to high-risk places, we feel that the administration has presented an extreme blindspot with regards to students’ mental health. In addition, we do recognize and appreciate the concern for student’s physical health with this decision. 

However, the current decision forces students to attend 44 consecutive days of classes, between Presidents’ Day and Patriots’ Day. Thus, students will be forced to work nonstop, highly stressed for six weeks. Boston University should also be aware of how this decision impacts faculty with regards to their teaching capabilities, mental health, and emotional wellbeing. Faculty concern has even been expressed in BU Today.

It is imperative to note students’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic should be of utmost importance to the administration. Based on Boston University’s very own School of Public Health Study, COVID-19 has been said to have tripled the rates of depression among young adults. Furthermore, students are finding themselves more isolated than ever and, with the addition of, zoom fatigue, this will lead to academic burnout. 

Given the clear impact to the Boston University community, we ask the administration to implement 4 non-consecutive days off (“Wellness Days”) in the 44 day-period to allow students and faculty a much needed mental health, emotional, and physical break.

We ask the Boston University administration consider the following days off:

• Thursday, February 4th
• Wednesday, March 3rd
• Thursday, March 25th
• Tuesday, April 6th 

Why these days?

To maintain COVID policies and disincentivize traveling, the days off would occur during the week: being a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. These selected dates take into account make-up scheduling, and vary to ensure equal distribution for days lost.

By ignoring our request, the Boston University Administration will directly contribute to the decline of students' and faculty mental health. Students will go on a 44-day period without any wellness break and escape from Zoom. We call upon the Boston University administration to respond quickly and generously to acknowledge the concerns of the students to enact a new plan of action.

Suggestions for what students can do on these wellness days:

• Talks orchestrated by the Howard Thurman Center; Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Activism (CGSA); Behavioral Medicine; Wellness and Prevention; Center of Psychiatric Rehabilitation; and other relevant departments. 
• Mindfulness Activities (i.e. Headspace, Wellbeing Project)
• Promote BU and local/national therapist and referral resources (i.e Psychology Today, National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network)
• Promote clubs to discuss mental health  (i.e. Social media posts to raise awareness, Host conversations)

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Other colleges implementing Mental Health or Wellness breaks

• Harvard University: Harvard FAS to Replace 2021 Spring Break with Intermittent 'Wellness Days' | News 
• Penn State: Dates announced for spring 2021 semester 'wellness' days 
• Duke University: Duke adds a two-day break and wellness day to spring semester, pushes back LDOC
• Colleges make plans for spring, cancel break