Happy post-Mental Wellness Day from the OGB Editorial Board! We hope that you too enjoyed your all-too-brief, essentially nonexistent break from the hustle and bustle of academic life at Wake Forest.

At The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, students were given five mental wellness days, spaced throughout the Spring semester. At Duke University, students were given a consecutive two-day break in early March and a mental wellness day in mid-April. At North Carolina State University, four wellness days have been allotted to students and professors were asked to avoid assigning any tests or deadlines on a day following any of these four dates.

Why, then, were Wake Forest students only allowed two days free from class? What about the staff members and facility workers who have had no break? What about the professors who are expected to battle through a grueling teaching schedule five days a week? Is a single day off in April sufficient for them as well? How could such a short break replenish the mental toll that COVID-19 has taken?

At a smaller school like Wake Forest, we like to think there’s a sense of community that is not present in larger state schools. We know one another, and we take it upon ourselves to care for one another as well.

This is why we here at the OGB are speaking up on the behalf of the entire Wake Forest community — not just the students. This is our plea to the administration. Please, give us a break.

We, as a community, are burned out, and one day off per month is not going to change that. Some of our writers have covered this problem before, but for most students, these days off are spent catching up on overdue assignments or stressing about upcoming deadlines. This is not the way a day devoid of classes should be spent. We are not superhuman, we are not invincible and we are certainly not immune to the rigors of a top-30 university.

Additionally, it is hypocritical to reference these two days off as “mental wellness” days when the Counseling Department is forced to refer students off campus due to a lack of counselors and an even greater lack of funding.