College's Too Fat to Graduate rule under fire.
 

(CNN) -- Most college students expect to receive their diplomas on the basis of grades, but at a Pennsylvania school, physical fitness matters too.

Students at Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.

Now that the first class to have this requirement imposed is nearing graduation day -- students who entered in the fall of 2006 -- the school faces criticism from both students and outsiders about the fitness class policy.

One of those students is Tiana Lawson, 21, whose recent editorial in the student paper has drawn national attention to the issue. Lawson wrote in The Lincolnian that she would be more understanding if the requirement applied to everyone. She thinks all students, not just those with a high BMI, should have to take the class.

"I didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range," Lawson wrote. "I came here to get an education which, as a three-time honor student, is something I have been doing quite well, despite the fact that I have a slightly high Body Mass Index."

Lawson, who told CNN she had been putting off getting her BMI tested until this year, recently found out she would have to take the class. At first angry, Lawson said she is now more "confused" about the requirement.

"I don't know why they would want some people to be more healthy than others," she said.

But James DeBoy, chairman of the school's Department of Health and Physical Education, says the requirement is just like courses to help students' communications or math proficiency. The faculty also has a priority to be honest with students, he said.

"We, as educators, must tell students when we believe, in our heart of hearts, when certain factors, certain behaviors, attitudes, whatever, are going to hinder that student from achieving and maximizing their life goals," he said.


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Interesting idea. I guess if you knew it was a requirement when you matriculated, it's pretty disingenuous to complain when you reach graduation and find out you fall into the group that have to take the class. I'd understand if they said you couldn't graduate if you didn't lose weight to fall under a BMI of 30.

I remember reading about this on PP.

They knew it was a requirement when they enrolled. Their bad for waiting until the last minute.

BMI is usually not a good measurement to use...o well.

Time to back off of them Ramen noodles.

It's not a great measure when you are looking at the line between normal and overweight for athletes with high muscle content. It is a VERY good measure of the level of obesity. You aren't going to find a healthy athlete with a BMI over 30. As for extreme weight lifters, they usually are over weight and can be obese.

Military academies maybe
 

I wouldn't be all that surprised to find out that the BMI measure might be used somehow by some of the Military Academies...

My university had a physical education requirement when I was there - not sure if they still have it or not. Anyway, EVERYONE had to take a general PE class their freshman year. I couldn't take that class so I had to substitute two others - I chose volleyball and western horseback riding.

This school's requirement seems a little humiliating. I don't think it's the same as requiring students in communications or mathematics to take a specified course prior to proceeding with other coursework, unless there is another physical education requirement that all students must take that is dependent on students being able to meet a certain level of fitness.

And none of that contradicted what I said. Yes, the distribution of fat does make a huge difference in how unhealthy your fat is, but nobody who is ranked as "obese" has healthy levels of fat no matter what the distribution of fat they have. All physicians would recommend that they lose weight.

I am very familiar with Lincoln U. since my alumnae chapter advises our undergrad chapter there but this is the first I'm hearing of this. I'm with the girl that said that she wouldn't have a problem with this rule if everyone were made to take the course and I agree.

There is a huge misconception out there that "skinny = healthy" and this is just not the case. There are lots of out of shape skinny folks out there that eat nothing but junk. The biggest difference is their metabolisms.

I have a very skinny friend that never exercises, eats nothing but junk and fast food at all times of the day and night, and has a freakish metabolism so she never gains weight, but who's to say that her bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyle won't catch up with her one day? The last I checked, not only fat people get sick. This mentality has to change.

I think this is a horrific rule. Not because they are doing it, but because they are choosing a select group that have to take this class that has nothing to do with their academic prowess. And to say that someone with a 30 BMI is more in need of a health class than someone with a 15 BMI is extraordinarily offensive. BMI is just not a measure of a person's health acumen in any way.

I also don't buy the "they knew about it when they enrolled" argument. I certainly didn't know every requirement of my undergrad institution when I chose to matriculate, and I doubt everyone here did, either. I learned about them after I was already a student. My first semester freshman classes were assigned to me, I did not get to register myself until second semester.

Should they have waited until their final year? No. But that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of how wrong this is. I would be very upset if I were forced to pay for 3 hours of a class that was solely based on my weight, when not every student was required to pay for the same class. Maybe if there was some way to test out of it, like there is for the "math and communications" issues they reference. Because a person with a 30 BMI is perfectly capably of being in much better shape than someone with a 28 BMI, and a person with a 30 BMI can be ridiculously knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition. The inability to manage weight does not automatically equate to being slovenly and uneducated about health.

I think a required health element is a good thing. But it's amazingly poor judgment to say that only some students have to take it, irrespective of the knowledge or abilities in the subject.

In other words, we will set "their" life goals for them.

If a student's life goal doesn't include, particularly at this point in his life, being healthy, what business is it of the faculty? They're there to guide, not to indoctrinate.

But the ditzoid who doesn't bother to ensure she meets graduation requirements hasn't learned spit, and needs to learn a little personal responsibility.

same thing isn't it?

College teaches you everything else...why not living healthy?

Anyone can lead you to water, you don't have to drink.

But they aren't trying to teach their students to be healthy. They are singling out a select group of people based on outward appearances, with no attempt made to ascertain what their actual level of knowledge is. They are making an arbitrary decision based on a flawed measurement tool to determine who is and is not academically equipped with the knowledge of how to be healthy.

Having a 30+ BMI does not mean one is uneducated about health. To presume such is a huge error.

This may be but everyone should have to take the class. Having a BMI below 30 does not mean that you eat healthy and exercise and are knowledgeable about nutrition, nor does it mean that your bad habits won't one day lead to sickness and obesity. The class wouldn't be offensive if everyone were required to take it. If the school cares so much, they should care about ALL their students getting properly educated on this topic and being healthy, not just the ones that they can visibly see are possibly not healthy. Lots of people are unhealthy and sick on the inside and no one knows anything until they end up in the hospital or die of things that their unhealthy habits contributed to. Everyone can benefit from learning how to lead a healthy lifestyle. What's sad is that they don't get it.