Rebecca Goldberg ’22, who is currently taking a leave of absence, was waiting until the administration announced the spring schedule to decide what she would do for the upcoming semester. When Yale revealed that next term would not include a spring recess, she decided to take the whole year off.
Goldberg is not alone in her concern about the lack of break in the upcoming term. When the University announced its spring schedule, social media erupted with students citing mental health concerns as they undertake 14 weeks of classes without a traditional two-week spring break. In the first few hours after the news broke, Twitter had more than 20 posts on the topic, while a post about the plan on Yale’s popular Facebook meme page had 540 reactions and over 60 comments. Students noted the challenges of balancing academics, extracurriculars and social life — all during a pandemic — as well as concerns that the five individual break days would not allow for sufficient self-care.
