It’s fall break and everyone on campus is wondering: how do I spend my four days, free from class and other responsibilities?  Many students are excited, planning to go home and relax or go to fun vacation spots, while those stuck on campus for sports or because they live too far away are just happy to relax in their dorms. But those traveling are so excited that some students started Fall Break early by ditching class. 

Traditionally, students will skip classes the Friday Fall Break starts because most professors don’t hold tests or quizzes, and any night classes held after the break starts at 6 p.m. should be canceled anyway. Professors always insist that students still need to go to classes that day, that it’s necessary for their attendance and class participation grades, or that they’ll be learning something new. It never gets people to show and students who do go to classes that day will notice a sizable drop in attendance when others don’t show up. However, this year it seems like students are kicking it up a notch by ditching classes one to five days before the break starts!

Starting Monday, many professors got emails from a student or two saying they’d be missing class due to sudden illness or injury. Professors have been receiving similar emails for weeks with the start of cold and flu season, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As Tuesday and Wednesday rolled around, the amount of “Sorry Professor, I can’t make it to class today,” emails tripled. By the time it was Thursday, Professors reported that half the students were missing from their classes. 

Most of the excuses students provided were illness related, but as more emails were sent, the reasons varied more. Having sent similar emails hundreds of times before, some students said they had to miss class to finish up work and projects for that class and others. Others went further with the foolproof death of a family member or childhood pet reason, expressing the need for time to mourn. Professors were upset about the amount of students missing class, but none of them wanted to be known as “that awful professor” who required students to come to class while struggling with mental or physical health issues. Trying to ask a student for proof of a family death just screams uncaring boomer. 

But other students noticed what was going on, regularly refreshing Instagram and Snapchat to see more and more posts from their classmates who left campus early. Videos of car rides and photos of reuniting with pets made it obvious to everyone where their classmates were. Not all the students were lying; some were actually complaining online about being sick, but the proof never made it to their professors. Just because those stuck on campus were jealous, they weren’t going to snitch either, knowing that their classmates would cover for them if their positions were flipped.