Petition to cancel classes during Wellness Week reaches 1,700 signatures

By Olivia McCormack

Disclosure: Julia Ford is a staff member at The Rival American, but was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.

A petition created Tuesday to cancel classes during Wellness Week now has over 1,700 signatures.

Acting Provost Peter Starr explained by email that during Wellness Week, “...classes will still meet synchronously or move forward with asynchronous material, but the week will be free of written assignments, required reading, quizzes, and exams.”

The plan for Wellness Week was announced by Sylvia Burwell during the Fall 2020 Semester.  It’s slated for March 7th through the 14th and will replace the University's regular spring break.

Starr also explained that the administration, “hope[s] that this Wellness Week—along with the extension of Winter Break—will offer some measure of rest and relaxation during these challenging times.”

But over 1,700 petitioners do not believe Wellness Week is enough rest and relaxation for AU students. Julia Ford, a senior journalism major, commented on why she created the petition, she said, “as the semester continues, I realized more and more just how stressful it is to be a college student during a pandemic. And, on top of that, people still have personal life issues. I know I need a break, and I know I’m not the only one.”

One of the students who’s feeling the lack-of-spring-break-crunch is Rachel Abraham. Abraham is a senior CLEG major who’s balancing a capstone, full course load, and an internship. 

At first, Abraham was optimistic about Wellness Week, something she believes was her “first mistake." Those feelings have quickly soured. “If they wanted to do something effective give us a … spring break,” Abraham said.

Abraham has seen and signed the petition and believes the university canceling classes would send a larger message to the student body. Abraham explained, “because AU talks a really big game about how it supports its students … they’re really good at talking about it and then they’re absolute garbage at doing anything about it and listening to when people give them constructive criticism.” 

Students have also experienced disparities in classes and work during Wellness Week. Junior Cami Pyne “had to google when Wellness week was for AU because I have 90% of my classes and a bunch of stuff due.”

Originally Pyne understood AU’s position and policy on Wellness Week since “we all thought that we were going to be on campus.” But now that students are scattered across the country she believes they deserve a break.

Other students are having lighter Wellness Weeks. Rae, a senior in SIS, is taking two classes this semester. Their professors have opted to have more personal meetings during Wellness Week and not assign homework, so the workload is not where the issue lies for them. 

However, As someone who has had COVID-19 Rae wants students to be held accountable for their unsafe actions. They believe the University is just “covering their butts legally,” with Wellness Week.

Rae views Wellness Week as a “half-baked effort to really take a stance against bad behavior.” She believes that AU should say “don’t engage in delinquent behavior, you will get disciplinary measures put on you if you are found going against COVID rules if you live in the district or on campus.”
Rather than hold students accountable, Rae says that “the ‘only way’ that AU can reinforce behavior is by scaring people into saying that there’s still class that week.”

Two of the students interviewed had signed the petition, but all had concerns about the effectiveness of Wellness Week. Many of the 1,700 signatures on the petition included the 8,500 undergraduate students currently enrolled at American. But alumni, parents, and community members have also signed the petition. 

The University has yet to comment on the petition, and acting Provost Peter Starr did not respond to The Rival American’s request for comment