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College Threatens to Fail Students for Obesity

Twenty-five seniors must prove they've lost weight to graduate

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 21, 2009 11:25 AM CST

(Newser) – Twenty-five seniors at a university in Pennsylvania must prove they've lost weight in order to graduate this spring. The unusual requirement stems from a policy Lincoln University put in place fours ago: Incoming freshmen with a body mass index of 30, the threshold for obesity, must take a nutrition class or shed the weight on their own to get a diploma, reports the Lincolnian student newspaper.

Most of the 92 students at the black university who had BMIs over 30 took the class, but the 25 who didn't were notified they'd have to undergo a physical exam before graduating. “No student should ever be able to leave Lincoln and not know the risks of obesity,” a school official tells Inside Higher Ed. Says one angry student: "I came here to get a degree and that's what the administration should be concerned with."

Lincoln University in Oxford, Pa., requires obese freshmen to take a nutrition class before graduating.
Lincoln University in Oxford, Pa., requires obese freshmen to take a nutrition class before graduating.   (Shutter Stock)
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This country’s in the midst of an obesity epidemic and African-Americans are hit hard by obesity and diabetes. We need to address this problem directly with our students. - James L. DeBoy, chair of Lincoln’s health, physical education and recreation department

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 29 comments
DaytonAve.
Nov 23, 2009 3:28 AM CST
This is such bullshit. If your living in the dorms and have a food plan it's almost impossible to not gain weight with the stuff their feeding you.
ilguy
Nov 23, 2009 1:12 AM CST
ImNobody... So now you change your nickname to imnobody to defend your own posting as reader1602 yesterday? interesting tactic. And what you're saying about the cost of obesity is true of many, many personal choices. You want the government regulating all of them?
justme
Nov 22, 2009 12:46 PM CST
Not in a "Big Brother " society where it is assumed that the government (in this case the university leadership) knows what's best for you. It's a new world that decides these things for me and you.
 

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