As the fall breeze begins to blow, USC’s campus is quiet as students pack their suitcases for their first long-awaited break of the school year. Fall break might evoke feelings of freedom and rest, but many are wary of what this so-called “break” has in store.
Although this time off will finally allow students and faculty to have some sort of respite before agonizing midterms and final exams take over their lives once more, for USC students and faculty, like adjunct lecturer Nazli Offringa, this doesn’t feel like much of a hiatus at all.
“I wish it were a full week because I teach Mondays [and] Wednesdays, so I don’t get a fall break,” Professor Offringa said. “I’m also an adjunct, so this is not my only job. So it would have been nice to get a break from teaching for a week, but nothing changed for me. … But what I saw was that students are struggling because four days is not enough time to go home and back if you’re living far away.”
Offringa, along with many USC students across campus, had just caught a nasty illness that had been rapidly spreading throughout the student body just before the start of fall break. This cold, as Offringa reports, had her and many of her students bedridden and feeling worse than ever before, with symptoms that could last up to 20 days.
While she is no stranger to sickness while teaching at the university, Offringa understands that this often comes from students who, themselves, fall ill from overworking themselves.
“A lot of people are sick, and that’s how I got sick, because [students] come to class sick,” Offringa explains. She notes that three days for fall break is too short. “We don’t have enough time to recover in that time. I’m teaching these classes, and I can do it over Zoom, but they’re taking four or five classes, and taking a break is costly [for the students] – especially if they’re also working jobs or doing internships. And then they’ll be missing out on a lot, and it’s very stressful for them.”
Many USC students around University Park Campus seemed to agree with Offringa, stating that fall break wasn’t enough time to do much of anything other than work.
Serene Liu, a senior in USC Dornsife’s Philosophy, Politics, and Law, mentioned that while she was desperately awaiting the fall break to get a breather from her midterms, it felt like instructors were just using the mini-vacation to assign more for students to do.
“I’ve had a few professors saying nothing can be due on fall break, but they just pushed [our assignments] to Sunday evening, so that’ll stay on my mind.”
Other students, like junior film production major Maceo Perez, were so slammed with work before and during the break that they didn’t even acknowledge it in the first place.
“I didn’t even clock that it was fall break, to be honest,” Perez said. “It doesn’t really feel like it at all. Perez, like many film majors halfway through their junior and senior years, is working on thesis projects nonstop throughout most of their break. “I have a shoot this weekend, so maybe I’m just in shooting mode right now.”
Professor Offringa notes that while fall break might be restful for students who live in-state and can drive home to see family, for the rest of the student body, this pause is not long enough to make going out of town worthwhile.
“I learned not to plan travel when the break is shorter than a week,” Offringa said. “I have two little kids, too. It’s simply not worth the hassle, the risk of getting sick, so I just stay home and get some quality time with my kids.”
Echoing Offinga’s sentiments, for some out-of-town students, fall break simply means a time to catch up on work, sleep, and spend time with friends.
Nina Duan, a freshman international student studying Economics and Mathematics, plans to use her first vacation at USC to explore the new city she lives in.
“I’m going to get hotpot with my friends this evening, and tomorrow, go out thrifting to buy some clothes or bags,” Duan said. However, she, too, has a huge exam due just after fall break, which means her rest will be cut at least two days short for her to study.
Whether it’s upcoming exams, long filming days, or recovering from illness, the USC community seems to agree that two days off are far too few. Time off, like much of the college experience, feels fleeting when students are constantly running around. They deserve time to catch their breath before the whirlwind of labor and learning begins again.