Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is doing their best to help
their students graduate healthy, and not everyone is happy about it.
Because
of the rising obesity, which is especially prevalent within the Black community, the faculty and staff at the Historically
Black College in Philadelphia have instituted a program on campus that forces overweight students to shed poundage at the
risk of not being able to graduate when the time comes to do so.
"We know we're in the
midst of an obesity epidemic," explained chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation,
James L. DeBoy. "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout."
Some
people argue that the program singles out bigger students instead of trying increase the health awareness of all students
on campus by promoting physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle all students would be involved, not just the ones that appear
to be fat or in need of a “change.”
According to clinical standards, anyone with a body mass index
of 25 or greater is considered medically obese. This program is a wake-up call for many of clinically obese students at the
campus, of which many are in the midst of their senior year.
Obesity is considered to be
one of the major expenses in health care today, contributing to countless diseases. Education and behavior changes can
be the key to success in business and personal life. For more information on the cost of obesity, go to http://www.communicate4success.com/health.html.
