Spring quarter heralds the beginning of sunny weather, blue skies and warm days spent outside. It should be a lovely time, a welcome liberation from the stormy weather and generally heavier workloads of winter quarter. However, the first few weeks of spring quarter also contain some of the most socially stressful times that many Stanford undergraduates – especially freshmen – will face: fraternity and sorority rush and the annual housing Draw.

Neither event is inherently stressful. Greek rush events should be enjoyable events during the less-busy first few weeks of the quarter: A bid offer or lack thereof hardly qualifies as a determination of a student’s character. And the housing Draw ought to be merely a luck-based system for allocating housing space in an egalitarian manner: Plenty of students will inevitably receive less-than-desirable housing, but a student’s domicile and Draw group are far from the ultimate factor for the student’s social life for the coming year.

Yet rush and the Draw can cause a great deal of emotional stress. Students who do not receive bids from their desired fraternity or sorority may feel personally spurned and socially cast aside, left to fend for themselves without an organized social group. Partitioning diverse and amorphous friend networks into eight-member-maximum groups is incredibly challenging. It is impossible to satisfy everyone in the creation of Draw groups, and the common practice of group Drawing ostensibly populates upperclass residences with pre-formed friend groups, a fact which understandably causes anxiety for solo Drawers.

So why do Stanford students experience so much stress over these two processes? This stress is a manifestation of the dreaded “duck syndrome,” the feeling of struggling alone in a university full of apparently happy and relaxed students, all of whom are struggling themselves.

The phrase “duck syndrome” is likely familiar to most Stanford undergraduates. Efforts are made to introduce the concept to freshmen at New Student Orientation (NSO), and every so often the duck syndrome inevitably appears on bathroom flyers. However, the Editorial Board believes the duck syndrome is a very important student mental health issue, and we wish to confront the issue head-on.

To illustrate the duck syndrome, we publish the following excerpt from an email written by an anonymous Stanford student to Angelina Cardona ’11, during her time as 2010-11 ASSU President: “I think I can be fun sometimes, and I sure know a lot of people, but I don’t have any real friends… I want someone to feel comfortable enough around me, or to think that I’m fun enough, that they don’t feel weird about randomly getting in touch… I feel socially awkward and out-of-place and community-less.”

The sentiments in this email resonate strongly. Looking around, most everyone looks incredibly productive, seems surrounded by friends, and ultimately appears to be fundamentally happy. This aura of good cheer is contagious. Many of us catch it in the camp-like atmosphere of admit weekend or NSO, and we retain it because everybody else seems so happy. Yet this contagious happiness has its dark side: Feeling dejected or unhappy in a place like Stanford causes one to feel abnormal and out-of-place, so we may tend to internalize and brood over this lack of happiness instead of productively addressing the situation.

To minimize this effect, the Editorial Board encourages the administration to more thoroughly address the fact that upbeat events during admit weekend and NSO can eventually lead to some students feeling even more isolated than normal. In addition, we beseech students to take care of themselves emotionally. It is normal – indeed, healthy – to be sad, angry, frustrated, or confused. Rather than futilely suppressing these natural feelings to maintain the facade of happiness, express these emotions. Find a friend (this friend doesn’t necessarily need to be a close one – a housemate, dorm neighbor or staff member who listens will do) and share your experiences. Have a good cry. Maybe call up a parental figure or the Bridge to have a good rant.

Do not, however, resent these natural emotions and attempt to bury them with fake happiness. Doing so is isolating and leads only to further stress. Take care of yourself!