Lincoln U requires obese students to reduce BMI, take physical-fitness course

At Lincoln University, a historically black institution based in Pennsylvania, students with body mass index scores above 30 -- the US Department of Health and Human Services' threshold for obesity -- must lower their BMI or pass a physical-fitness course before graduating. 25 seniors at the school who have neither proven they've lost weight nor signed up for the class are in danger of not being able to graduate this spring. Lincoln U's chair of health, physical education, and recreation department says he sees it as his "professional responsibility to be honest and tell students they're not healthy." The American College Health Association's president says the requirement "raises questions about personal rights and which trumps, personal rights or university policy." Inside Higher Ed | The Chronicle of Higher Education (free access)