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Mandatory Gym Class for Obese College Students on Shaky Legal Ground?

By Sarah Mui

December 3, 2009, 7:53 pm CST

Lincoln University in Pennsylvania instituted a policy in 2006 requiring students with a body mass index of over 30 to take a one-credit gym class to graduate.

Now that members of the class of 2010 have their final semester in sight, the policy is attracting attention. Dean James DeBoy told Daily Tech that 12 to 15 students need to take the course to graduate. About 620 have either taken or tested out of the course, which features water aerobics, Tae Bo and aerobic dance, Daily Tech reports.

Laura Rothstein, a law professor at Louisville University told The Chronicle of Higher Education that a student could challenge the requirement under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“But I can’t tell you how that would turn out—it would be breaking new ground,” Rothstein said. “The key would be whether the obesity and size of a particular student is a disability.”

Peter F. Lake, director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson University, posited that one’s BMI could be construed as protected medical information.

“Being put in a class with other ‘at-risk’ BMI’s walks a little close to disclosure,” Lake said in an e-mail to the Chronicle.

Some faculty members are pushing to drop the requirement, and that subject will be discussed at a faculty meeting Friday, according to the Lincolnian student newspaper.

Hat Tip: Legal Blog Watch

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