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If you are a student at Lincoln University who is too fat, you can’t get your diploma until you try doing something about it.
Four years ago, the historically black university in rural Pennsylvania initiated guidelines requiring that students with a body mass index greater than 30 take a Fit for Life class.
National health guidelines set a BMI of 30 as the threshold for obesity, a condition that disproportionately impacts blacks and has been connected to several illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
The requirement for the fitness class began with students who entered the university beginning in Fall 2006, and the first wave of those students are set to graduate in Spring 2010.
“The goal is to prepare students to achieve their maximum potential in life,” says Jim DeBoy, chairman of the university’s Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
About 700 students were in the freshman class in 2006, and 80 of the seniors have not completed the one-hour course that meets twice each week, DeBoy told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Allycia White, a senior from Baltimore, MD., is one of the students who have not met the requirement.
White, a journalism major, said she doesn’t have a regular exercise program, but she’s in the marching band and gets a regular workout through practice and performance. Still, her BMI is over 30.
She’s taking the class next semester because although she has a 3.8 grade point average, the Fit for Life class is one of the few things standing between her and a college diploma.
“Most people see this as just another thing they’ll have to do to graduate. Many of them already are overloaded with courses,” she told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“I feel if you are going to make it a requirement, you should make it a requirement for everyone,” she said. “All of the people who have a body mass index less than 30 are not necessarily healthy.”
DeBoy said the university does not have the resources to include all students in the class at this time. The effort was made to reach those with highest risk of developing diseases that lead to increased morbidity, he said.
He likens the BMI requirement to requirements for certain academic standards in subjects such as math, science and English.
“We’ve been giving placement tests to students for years. If they are not on a certain level, we work to help them get there,” he said. “That’s the same thing we are doing with the fitness class requirement.”
The Fit for Life class includes a variety of aerobic exercises, he said. The first day of class, students simply walk around the track a few times.
Students do not have reduce their BMI to pass the class, but they must attend class and participate in the activities, DeBoy said. “We want them to get to the point where they have a healthy target heart rate,” he said.
In a recent letter, DeBoy encouraged other faculty members to “stay the course,” in spite of the negative publicity the university is receiving.
“We are taking a hit now because we have to,” he said. “If more institutions had made this move 10 to 20 years ago, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
DeBoy said he’s prepared to address the different reactions to the guidelines.
“This whole issue can be likened to that of an onion. At first blush, the topic under discussion stinks,” he said in his letter to the faculty and staff. “The first, outermost layers elicit knee-jerk reactions: Lincoln’s decision is outrageous, mean-spirited and blames the victim. These conclusions, while understandable, are also uncritical with regard to the core issue – the deeper layers of the topic. Colleges will be damned if they try and can avoid public outcry when they ignore, minimize, or deny that a problem exists or that it is simply not their business, nor in their best interest.”
Several students have said they did not realize until recently that they would have to take the fitness course before graduating.
“They really haven’t done a good job of communicating it to us,” White said. She learned she had to take the course after checking on her graduating status this semester.
She said she didn’t think she had to take the class since she completed another requirement – running a mile within a specific time.
“I know I have to take the class,” she said. “But I would rather be doing something else with that time that is more related to my major and my career goals.”
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