College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire...say what?

[Peacetrain]

A persons weight does affect health, but this is just off the charts stupid. As someone put in the comments section, you could be a mass murderer and graduate, but not if your bmi is over 30.. :crazy:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/30/lincoln.fitness.overweight/index.html

"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."

[Dr. Strange]

1. Why isn't this already a requirement for everyone?

When I was an undergrad, I had to take two PE courses. (Granted, one of them was bowling, but still.)

[Fleshdancer]

13. PE requirements and BMI testing are two different things though

I'm ok with requiring PE. Withholding a degree based on measuring your weight and height is ridiculous though. First, it's not very accurate, and second, it's just wrong.

[FarCenter]

29. The story doesn't say they withhold the degree if your BMI is too high

It just says that if your BMI is over 30, you have to take and pass the PE course.

[ecstatic]

20. I had to take one too, and we had to run a mile in a certain amount of time

I wasn't overweight but I don't recall making the time requirement. I got a really really bad grade in a class that should have been an easy A...such an embarrassment!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Why stop there?

Make them use an armband like this:

[Jamastiene]

3. Next up, all brunettes must bleach hair blond(e) to graduate. n/t

[Fumesucker]

9. Q: What do you call brunette hair with blonde roots?

A: Artificial intelligence.

[aikoaiko]

4. It doesn't appear that the students have to lose weight to graduate - only finish the course

IIUC there is no too-fat-to-graduate rule.

[Peacetrain]

23. Not everyone has to take it.. only if you have a BMI above 30.. so

don't you find that strange.. I would not even blink if they said.. everyone has to complete a fitness course.. okay.. you would know it before you start.. but this is targeting a specific group. Yes they should get in shape.. but this is over the top

[aikoaiko]

34. "but this is targeting a specific group" yes, those who urgently need the course.

I don't think it is over the top. If the headline was accurate (i.e., must not be fat to graduate) then that would be over the top, but simply requiring completion course is not in my opinion.

[whopis01]

47. Not really - you can get out of certain courses in college if you pass the right tests

It is really just the same thing.

The school I went to had a requirement where all undergraduates have to pass a swimming test. Didn't seem like a bad idea.

[izquierdista]

5. Over the top, are we?

They have to COMPLETE the fitness course, but I don't see where their BMI has to be under 30 to graduate.

[Peacetrain]

22. If everyone had to do it fine!.. but this targets a group..and no matter how they do

scholastically they cannot graduate if they do not finish this class.. Now how is that right?...

[sui generis]

6. it's w-a-y way way WAY overstepping

we're already paying brazillians of dollars to these institutions to learn how to learn, and praying we get jobs that will keep us reasonably engaged when it's all over.

And for the most part, I have zero empathy for overweight people who "excuse it" - but this is just idiotic in the extreme. Break out the lawsuits folks.

What next, you can't graduate if you tits are too big or your weenie is too small? good grief, it's the nanny-state gone batshit-berserk.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. lawsuits over what?

Assuming this policy is made clear to applicants, those applicants (once they become attendees) have no grounds to sue having accepted this as a condition of attending the school. If the school tried to apply the policy to people who did not agree to it, they may be open to lawsuits, but it is likely the school would prevail. They can change certain aspects of their "contract" with students at will. Like the tuition rate.

[sui generis]

14. yer right - and if the students have an open ended agreement like

the university gets to update your agreement whenever it wants, but you don't, then it's not an agreement at all. That's what credit card companies do, but they can get away with it because they extend credit and take risk on you.

A university does no such thing. They take and keep your money whether you attend classes or not.

[NashVegas]

25. A Private Uni Should Be Free To Require Whatever They Want

of their grads. Otherwise, kids can pick a different school.

[Nikki Stone1]

26. So private universities should be allowed to discriminate against blacks, for example.

Private institutions should have no need to follow the law?

[FarCenter]

30. Probably not this one, since Thurgood Marshall is an alumnus

[Romulox]

32. +1. Concisely skewered the above argument. nt

[NashVegas]

38. Gee, Sorry

I thought we were talking about things a student can control.

The only thing wrong with this school's requirement is that it doesn't extend to ALL undergrads.

[sui generis]

35. If they're accredited they damn well better give your your degree

for properly acquitting your studies in your field in pursuit of that accredited degree. Your humanities core and your waistline are not related, nor should they be.

At a truly "private" non accredited facility, who cares, but the accreditation is what drives the standard.

[whopis01]

48. That's not really how accredidation works.

Accreditation sets a minimum standard that the school must comply with in order to remain accredited.

If the school wants to go above that minimum and impose other regulations, then it is free to do so and is in no danger of losing accredidation.

Accreditation drives the minimum standard.

[Fleshdancer]

7. Let me get this straight....

So a school can charge you tens of thousands of dollars and then choose to withhold the degree that you worked hard for because of your BMI? A test that isn't even an accurate measure of health? The numerous fast food restaurants on campus and crap served in the cafeterias contradict their "concern".

:banghead:

[imdjh]

16. Getting your weight under control is at least as useful as learning French.

And some schools require that you master a foreign language to graduate, whether that language is actually useful or not.

[Fleshdancer]

18. Like I said though, a BMI test isn't even a good measurement of health

If you have a lot of lean muscle mass, your BMI will register as too high. If you have a lot of body fat but very little muscle mass (AKA: "skinny fat") your number could easily register as "normal".

As for mastering a language, what school requires it unless your degree is in that language? I'm all for requiring PE classes, but a BMI requirement is out of line in my opinion. If the schools truly cared, then why not start with the food they serve?

[imdjh]

19. University of Illinois, I believe.

And I agree with you about the food in the dining hall. The counter argument to that would be that it doesn't matter if they serve all healthy food if the kids won't eat it and they end up throwing it away.

As for the BMI, one would think that some assessment of actual physical condition would govern.

[Zywiec]

37. If you have a lot of lean muscle mass, your BMI will register as too high

so you do a simple tape test to exclude those with lean muscle the same as the military does when they measure BMI.

This argument always cracks me up as if most people with a BMI over 30 is due to too much muscle.

[FarCenter]

39. And if your lean muscle mass puts you over 30, the PE course would be a snap!

[Peacetrain]

24. Not only that.. but you are targeted.. the class is required for all students..

[imdjh]

8. I'm going to applaud this. As a fat fighter all my life, one thing is the lack of support.

These people are saying, "You're too fat. It's time to do something for your health and success in life." At least the student won't be able to kid himself that "Nobody told me." or "No one cared enough to step in."

I have always joked that if they would stop making 3X clothing, then people would get serious about getting their lives under control when the 2X is getting tight. They make clothes up to 8X readily available.

I saw a guy last night who was literally waddling. I know how that feels, because I have done it. No one said anything to me. No one said, "Hey, you're killing yourself. It's time to stop." They were too polite.

Fat acceptance is bullshit. OK, so maybe we're not all going to be slender, but there is nothing liberating about accepting a crippling weight.

[Fumesucker]

12. I hope you are wearing Nomex Underoos..

Because you are going to get toasteeeeeedd.. :hi:

[imdjh]

17. Truth, as always, is the best defense.

[ohheckyeah]

44. And amazingly enough

you managed to do something about your weight without being told to. Why not allow others to worry about their own damn weight.

[imdjh]

45. Evangelism, it's not just for Jehovah's Nitwits anymore.

[ohheckyeah]

46. LOL

Good one.

[DBoon]

10. do they do mandatory drug tests? Breathalyzer tests?

Do they check for tell-tale signs of tobacco use?

[KansDem]

15. LU serves Pepsi products...

http://www.lincolnuniversitydining.com/news.html

My wife works at a local community collage. She was upset over the weekend because she had just read the college board's minutes that stated Coke got a five-year contract renewal to serve its products. She believes this will prevent healthy-choices in drinks (i.e., seltzer), or local manufacturers (i.e., James Lemonade, which used to be served in the cafeteria but got the boot after Coke's first contract was signed--can't sell anything other than Coke products!), so there isn't any "healthy" choice. I would imagine the same for LU--"If Pepsi didn't make it, they can't sell it."

I'd like to know why colleges are implementing weight-control requirements for graduation but not providing any, or very little, in the way of healthy food and drink...

[liberalhistorian]

21. This is such authoritarian bullshit that I don't even

know where to start. If I were back in college again, I'd get straight A's and then gain a ton of weight just for the pleasure of taking them to court for denying me a diploma over something that has ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NOTHING to do with my graduation qualifications. NO. THING.

I don't have a problem with a physical fitness class requirement, that's a good thing. But to require that a weight be at a certain level in order to graduate when every other academic qualification has been met-well, that's just forty shades of nutballery. Your weight has nothing to do with academic qualifications for graduation, period. Now excuse me while I go find my jaw that dropped to the floor and skittered away.

[Prometheuspan]

27. welcome to college.. In HELL.

this is fantastic. Just when i thought humanz couldn't possibly get any more insane for their inability to actually do education reform, they come up with this.

what about people who have medical conditions which make it so they aren't ever going to get thinner?

talk about rapidly devolving civilizations,.. .sheesh...

[imdjh]

28. There are several colleges with fitness requirements. Citadel, VMI, Naval Academy,...

[liberalhistorian]

43. Yes, but do they REQUIRE you to be at or below

a certain weight before you're allowed to receive your diploma???????? There's a huge difference between a phys ed class requirement for graduation and a requirement to be of a certain weight.

[whopis01]

49. It sounds like you actually agree with the program they have instituted.

They have a physical fitness class requirement. You can have this requirement waived if you pass certain tests (the BMI measurement). Otherwise you have to take the course.

They are not denying anyone a degree based on their weight. There is no standard of physical fitness that anyone has to meed in order to get a degree.

[RoadRage]

31. Well, it looks like 2/3rds of the FOOTBALL TEAM

will be taking this class, as a majority of athelets have High BMI's due to them inaccurately correlating weight to height, and not taking muscle mass into account.

So - maybe there is a reason for me to sign up for this class after all!! :)

[whopis01]

50. The article says that they take that into account. n/t

[Romulox]

33. Demeaning and authoritarian. nt

[nc4bo]

36. So if they can't graduate then it's fair that their tuition should be reimbursed

Right?

[Codeine]

41. They're not requiring them to lose weight,

just take the fitness class. You don't get your tuition back if you fail any other course, why different for this one?

[SoCalDem]

40. Simpler solution.

Make Health & Fitness a mandatory class for all ....make it a freshman class though.. full credit, half-price

and then follow through, by REMOVING all JUNK-FOOD from campus.. No coke machines, no pepsi machines, no candy machines, no processed foods at the student union, no adulterated mixes/frankenfoods in the dorm cafeterias

add a FREE fitness center, open 24/7

turn some of the open space into food-gardens

Gotta walk-the-walk..

[Lyric]

42. College isn't public school.

If I have to PAY for college, then I'll be damned if I'm going to have to PAY for an extra class that (1) is neither related to nor relevant to my major, (2) insults me and humiliates me by subjecting me to BMI and "waistline" measurements and judgements, and (3) provides NOTHING that I couldn't learn for free elsewhere, if I wanted to.

Those "fitness classes" aren't free. The students have to pay for them. Unless they're completely cost-free, required of ALL students, and contain exemptions for students with physical limitations and health problems, then I oppose them as a matter of principle. In fact, the cost is one of the justifications they're using for NOT making it a universal class.

Overweight students should not have to pay more for their college degrees than slender students do. If BMI is what they're using to measure "fitness," then it's a bullshit scale. I know plenty of thin people who NEVER exercise and aren't even CLOSE to being "fit." This isn't about fitness, it's about FATNESS, and it makes me sick.