Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is requiring that clinically obese students take a "Fitness for Life" course that provides information on exercise, nutrition, and other lifestyle topics. The Associated Press quotes an article in the student newspaper by Tiana Lawson, a twenty-one year-old senior, who wrote that she "didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range. I came here to get an education."
"Being obese is to some extent a lifestyle behavior, but it also has genetic determinants that cannot be helped," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "In any case, this is still discrimination against certain students based on body type. I doubt that's what they pay their tuition for. Further, where will this sort of nanny oversight stop? Why not make students who smoke take a class on the manifold dangers of cigarettes? That might be a more useful educational tool than this fitness class. And some athletes can have BMIs over 30, yet not be obese."
