Today, San Diego State University held a meeting to determine whether or not they should replace Spring Break with 4 “rest and recovery days.” These R&R days in no way make up for Spring Break and MUST be reconsidered by the council. 

The proposed rest and recovery days are scheduled to occur scattered out across the second semester. One day at a time is not enough for the students and faculty to get the recovery from the heavy workload that they need. One of these “R&R” days is scheduled for a Friday, a day which many students already do not have class. 

The mental health of students and faculty also must be considered. Everyone is struggling with ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, heavy workloads, and transitioning to online schooling, which a majority of us, students and professors, are still brand new to. Taking away our Spring Break will only add stress to our lives and make it harder to focus on our studies. 

The SDSU council “gives us their guarantee” that these rest and recovery days will have no work and due dates. However many students, including myself, did not even get a “Thanksgiving Break” as work was assigned all throughout the break. So even though these days “are off days” there will still be assigned work due the next day to work on. 

The goal of changing Spring Break to this new proposed system is to prevent students who are living on campus, which is a very small percent of everyone who attends SDSU, from traveling home for Spring Break. An entire population of students are being punished over the assumption that a small group of students will act irresponsibly. Not only that, but with classes all being online, what is stopping students who live on campus from traveling anyways? The rest and recovery days are a lazy attempt at controlling the outbreak. It is nothing but the school virtue signaling and showing us that they do not care.