Students may not be allowed to graduate because they're obese

Being overweight is risky. However there are some people like myself where being over weight is genetic. Both of my parents were obese, my brother was obese. I am 65 and no matter how much I exercise or how little I eat I have never, never been able to lose any weight except one time in my late teens when I was eating less than 500 calories per day-- and found myself fainting all the time. My Dr. said I was not eating enough! I have tried Jenny Craig; Weight Watchers; and Nutrisystem and gained weight on all of those diets. I finally gave up. This policy at Lincoln University is discriminatory! Do they have a policy about smoking, drinking alcohol (after age 21 of course), etc., etc.? Why do colleges, employers, etc. always pick on people who are overweight and no one else? What about all the people who are so thin you can see every bone in their bodies, or smoke so much you can't stand to be around them? Face it people--there will always be fat people in this world! Some through no fault of their own who eat all the right foods and in the proper portions and exercise and then some who do nothing but eat all the time and don't exercise at all.

bull chit

Bull! This is flat out discrimination, and these kids should sue! What right do these so-called educators have to say that students that have completed their educational requirements can'r graduate due to their weight? This school needs to be boycotted and have major protests held against these bigots. YES, bigots. To hold something against someone because of your own dislike of their appearance is a form of bigotry, and this has to stop! As for thier contention abotu this being about health, I say BS again. This is purely about appearances. Let the students decide for themselves how to live their lives, and NOT some made up school rules that are only discriminatory in nature.

I think this is bull. I used to be very thin (110 lbs) but I have now developed hypothyroidism and I have type 2 diabetes and I have put on weight and I am considered overweight. I have tried everything and I can not lose the weight. I exercise 5 times a week and eat healthy not only because of my weight but because I have to. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and it's your fault. There's a stereotype that if your overweight its because your lazy and you don't exercise and you eat a lot of junk. Maybe this is true of some people but not all. It's like saying all asians are good at math or all mexicans are lazy or all african americans are criminals its a bunch of bull just like those discriminatory sayings. I know what its like to be thin and look down on people who are overweight but now I'm in those shoes and trust me it's not as simply as saying do this or that. I can say that because I put in the hard work everyday without any results.

Poor grooming can cause people to discriminate against you, as well -- do they have mandatory classes for students who don't pass muster when judged by the on-campus sororities?

How about ethnic names -- those, too, have been shown to cause you to suffer discrimination in hiring. Does this school require freshmen with ethnic names to change them, or risk failing to graduate?

You could argue that schools have a responsibility to instill an ethical outlook on life in students. So, surely this school utilizes some form of character check on incoming students, and then weeds out any who fail to pass whatever undercover ethical spot check they're given before graduating, right?

I mean, obviously, this wouldn't be a case of an administration deciding to get a wild hair about some topic -- and then single out one common flaw which can be easily measured with a bathroom scale and a chart -- and use that data to "fix" students regardless of how well they excelled or failed at every other aspect of academia, now would it?

Nah. Couldn't be.

TO FAT? THAT MAKE THEM STUPID? LOOK AROUND PEOPLE HALF THE WORLD IS TO FAT, SO WE NEED TO STOP LETTING THEM BUY FOOD? LOCK THE FAT ASS PEOPLE UP TILL THEY LOSE WEIGHT. BETER YET SHOOT THEM.
THEN THE SKINNY ONES NEXT &THE TALL ONES THEN THE SHORT ONES HELL SHOOT EVERYONE THAT`S NOT LIKE "YOU".
GET A LIFE AND LIVE YOUR OWN WAY NOT OTHERS.

It said it was a university. PE is not required in college. Plus, all they had to do was take a short 1 semester, which is 1/4 of the school year, class to graduate. They refused to listen to the rules of the university.

Brooke you cant argue that pe is not a required class and then turn around and say well they are making them take a class just do it. They should require a PE class if they can require a how not to be overweight class

Oh for pete's sakes people. Quit making excuses for these fat asses. The school was trying to help them and their fat asses still couldn't be bothered after 4 years. They don't deserve to graduate.

It's a private university -- not a public school.

They knew the rules when they signed up. They chose not to follow them so they should not be allowed to graduate till they do.

That's not really the point of the story. It's not appropriate to require a class for some based ONLY on their weight. It's not a required class for everyone. Just those with big butts.

So, if we're being fair and it's all in the interest of social welfare, where are the classes on eating poorly and still being thin? Smoking? Drinking? Drugs? Recreational/Unprotected Sex? Laziness? Lack of exercise? etc etc etc? Seems this was the brain child idea of someone with an ax to grind with the overweight. Ugly thin people tend to make less money, too, why not a class on being less ugly? Assholes.

Christina-Discrimination is discrimination no matter how you spin it. Anybody that would think it is ok to deny deplomas to students that earned it based solely on their weight, is discriminating. There are people that are genetically predisposed to being overweight. When I was 30 years old, I was diagnosed with 3 health issues and my Doctor sat me down and told me that I would never be thin. Regardless how many diets I went on, how much exercise I got - I would always be overweight. Why? Because I basically have no metabolism. I am an active person. I am probably more active than most people my age. When people see me, they judge me based upon my body size until they get to know me and see what all I do in a day. I can assure you that I can out work, and out perform just about any skinny person in the same line of work. The sterotype that overweight people are lazy, and not capable of working is crazy. There are just as many lazy skinny people that are incompetant at their job - so what's their excuse? Let the students graduate, and encourage them to make healthy choices. Encouragement goes a lot further than discouragement!

Yes, it is just a class and it is only one semester. The thing that makes it discriminatory is simply that not everyone has to take it. If they want to make it a requirement for graduation, then every student should have to take the class, not just a selected group of the class. That's where the discrimination comes into play. I have no problem making the class mandatory as long as it is for all the students, not just select students. Skinny students need to know the basics of nutrition and exercise too.

When I first went to college, we had to take a swimming test. If you could not swim 2 laps of an Olympic-size pool, you had to take a swimming class to graduate. Those were the rules. I don't think this rule is much different. Also, to the person who said he/she could not lose weight eating 500 calories per day and exercising 5 days per week, you are just kidding yourself.