Historically Black Lincoln University (Pa.) Mandate Fitness Class as a Requirement for Graduation for Overweight Students

Historically black Lincoln University has instituted a new requirement for graduation -- overweight undergraduates must take a fitness class in order to receive their degrees. This has raised the hackles of students and has stunned health and legal experts. Who is the idiot who instituted this ridiculous policy? Isn't this a breach of the students' rights? School officials said that they are simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community. James L. DeBoy, chairman of the university's department of health, physical education and recreation said, "We know we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic." "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout." Really? Does that obligation include ostracizing some students? 

Shouldn't these officials be worried about the school's abysmal graduation rate, which was 40% in 2006? They are not doing a good job in equipping African American students for the future. Sorry, but this latest move amounts to nothing but profiling. Cultivating good eating habits is paramount, but tying one's weight to achieving a college degree is just plain wrong and has legal implications. The execution of this mandate by the school is deplorable and insensitive.

The mandate, which took effect for freshmen entering in fall 2006, requires students to get tested for their body mass index, a measure of weight to height. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. Students with one that's 30 or above, considered obese, are required to take a class called "Fitness for Life," which meets three hours a week. DeBoy said the course involves walking, aerobics, weight training and other physical activities, as well as information on nutrition, stress and sleep. As of this fall, DeBoy estimated about 80 seniors, or 16 percent of the class, had not had their body mass index tested nor taken the fitness class.

For me, the bigger issue is the fact that the HBCUs just cannot compete with other institutions of higher learning. According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, at 20 historically black colleges and universities, two thirds or more of  all entering black students do not go on to earn a diploma. The lowest graduation rate was at the University of the District of Columbia, where only eight percent of entering freshmen go on to earn a bachelor’s degree. At Texas Southern University in Houston, 15 percent of entering students complete college.

So, one has to ask why is this the trend at these schools? Well, the study attributes the low graduation rates at black colleges to a number of reasons.

Many of the students enrolled at these institutions are from low-income families, often ones in which there are few books in the home and where neither parent nor grandparent went to college. In addition, the black colleges on the whole have very small and totally inadequate endowments. They often lack the resources necessary to generate funds for student financial aid. Often they are unable to furnish sufficient aid packages for upperclassmen to permit them to stay in school. This circumstance appears to be a major factor in accounting for the low black student graduation rate at these schools.

But probably the most important explanation for the high dropout rate at the black colleges is the fact that large numbers of African-American HBCU students do not come to college with strong academic preparation and study habits. The graduation results at the HBCUs are worsened by the fact that flagship universities in the southern states often tend to shuttle the lowest-performing black applicants into the state-controlled black colleges in their states. Source: Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

So, excuse me if I don't see the benefit of tying a fitness class to attaining one's college diploma if one is overweight. President Ivory Nelson, Mr. DeBoy and the officials at Lincoln University need to focus on improving these horrible statistics, improve the programs being offered and seek ways to enlarge its endowments.