Seventy-two percent of leaders polled reported being burned out, according to Victoria Repa on LinkedIn. 

Intersectional Justice Coalition President Lily Mercado said she had various moments of burnout in the past two semesters. 

“Student leaders are definitely burned out,” Mercado said. “I know a lot of student leaders who have expressed burnout who had to drop out or take a break when things get rough.” 

Mercado said she hopes the university works with students to do better and help make the workload easier for student leaders. 

“What really doesn’t help is a lot of issues around campus,” Mercado said. “Student leaders take the burden of issues around campus because there is nobody else to do that.” 

Mercado said the CCSU administration is unable to take care of some of the burdens that students feel. 

She said the university could do better at communicating openly with student leaders, really hearing out their needs, and working to address those needs without dismissing them. 

“If student leaders are complaining, there is an issue and something needs to be done about it,” Mercado said. 

Sarah Horrax, associate director for Student Activities and Leadership Development, said her role is to support student leaders running clubs and organizations. 

Horrax said when burnout sets in, it makes it harder to keep going. She said even more effort seems to be needed to do the things that come easily without burnout. 

“It is like quicksand,” Horrax said. “The more you struggle, the harder it becomes to free yourself.” 

 Horrax said she is sure Central students are working through burnout but cannot say for certain unless they tell her. Communication is vital to acknowledging burnout, she said. 

Horrax said part of her wonders if burnout is contagious. Why am I just now hearing this for the first time? 

According to CQ Net, the burnout contagion effect is evident when several employees within a team or department exhibit symptoms of burnout or when burnout spreads from one employee to several others. 

Horrax explains that others need to step in and step up when someone gets to the point of burnout. In a club situation, she adds that the new individual gets overwhelmed and feels a lack of support if they weren’t part of the initial process of a particular project. 

Horrax said this is why leaders should focus on setting up others for success and not doing all of the work. She said you don’t have to do it all as a club leader, and everything should be a team effort. 

I catch myself saying that it would be easier if I just do this club task or do it to not burden anyone else. As leaders, we have to ask ourselves who benefits from this. You know what they say about giving a man a fish. It seems like the easier option, but you only feed him for a day. Teaching a man to fish will feed him for a lifetime and prevent burnout along the way.