If you’ve been paying any attention to the world around you, it’s no secret that 2020 has been physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding for everyone. From a global pandemic, to civil unrest, to a huge election, the times we are currently living in are trying. Just to ice the cake, try adding in hybrid learning in a large institution where there are no breaks from your computer until the end of the semester. All around campus, there are signs posted stressing the importance of mental health. “Don’t forget to use those 3 free CAP’s sessions!,” “Step outside and take a break today. The weather’s nice!” “#IUSTRONG” And while it is great that IU is recognizing there is a trend among college students and this constant struggle with mental health, it has been made evidently clear that IU officials are missing a crucial part in preventing mental exhaustion is the oppurtunity to be able to simply take a step back to recuperate. It is nearly impossible to do this step that is essentially crucial to ensuring a healthy mental well-being, due to the excessive workload that has been keeping students all over the Indiana University campus busy. 

It is inevitable that scool as we know it would have to succumb to change due to current circumstances, but what some scholars are lacking is the decency, and understanding with the constraints we have been dealt. Us students get it. This all new. But work loads have increased substantially, and increased in difficulty to ensure methods of the honor code are to be enforced, but this has left us little room to adjust, and even rewind. It’s not as simple as taking an hour break from school work when you know you have assignments due back to back all week. It’s not as simple as time management. It comes down to mental wellness and what steps should be taken to prevent breakdowns and discouragement in students.

Nothing has changed in terms of semester lengths. And just because students aren’t walking, biking, or catching the bus to sit in a jam packed lecture hall, does not mean we are not under the same stress and mental exertion as before, IF not more. All that is going on in the world around us has not gone away, and the world as we know it will not be back to “normal” anytime soon. We simply are asking for a break from classes during the spring semester, similarly how they were scheduled when in-person classes were in session. Recent times have been trying, and we have seen that we have a right to critique and petition if we feel we are not being heard or having our needs met. 

The students of IU Bloomington and IUPUI can only hope that we won’t be burnt out, pushed past our limits, or silenced by the same institution who emphaizes this similar idealogy that we matter, that our mental health matters. Our concerns are valid and we demand they be heard.