As students at St. Lawrence University are beginning to prepare for midterms, stress levels are increasing rapidly. This is not unusual, but the circumstances of the classroom expectations despite Covid-19 restrictions still in place provide added stress. After observing what has been posted both publicly and privately online, I’ve come to the conclusion that these next two weeks of the semester will be monumentally overwhelming. Recently, an app called “Yik Yak” has become increasingly popular on campus. Through this app, students (and anyone else) can post comments anonymously and any individual within five miles of the area can view it, “upvote” it, “downvote” it, and comment on it. This has been sparking a lot of strange comments and conversations but what I’ve noticed most is the declining mental health of the student body at St. Lawrence University.
The University has taken some measures to relieve some of the stress that is felt widespread on campus. Some of these measures include a weekly “Doggie Destress Day,” the creation of a Wellness Education Office headed by Laura Lavoie, and the addition of two massage chairs replacing an old couch on the third floor of the student center. While it is appreciated that the University has done these things for the student body, I don’t believe that it is enough. St. Lawrence students need a break. At least one to two mental health days per semester should become a permanent part of the University’s official academic calendar. The mental health day that students received last March was necessary and though the University may have only witnessed students take advantage of it and partying, numerous other students spent the well-needed day off catching up on work.
Through social media like Yik Yak, Instagram, and Snapchat, it is clear to me that students across campus are struggling not only with school work but with their personal lives as well. First-years and sophomores (like myself) have not had the typical opportunities to meet other students on campus that upperclassmen had. This has resulted in widespread feelings of loneliness and not belonging for half of the student body. If the University were to increase the size of groups allowed to gather and increase testing again in order to compensate for the risk, we students would have more opportunities to meet others and the University would have more accurate Covid-19 test results. The decision to decrease testing on campus—especially considering the risk associated with Family Weekend—was a mistake on the University’s part. By increasing testing, we can increase the size of group gatherings, allowing the student body to socialize more and therefore acknowledging our mental health crisis and hopefully relieve some of our incredible stress.