Yale Student Claims School Will Suspend Her For Being Too Skinny
Yale student, Frances Chan, has decided to go public with the threat made by Yale University to suspend her if she didn’t gain weight. Chan says at 5’2? she weighs only ninety-two pounds, but claims she has always been skinny according to Foxnews.com. She says it’s in her genes because both her parents and grandparents were skinny.
TheBlaze.com reports that this all began back in September of 2013 when this 20-year-old Yale history student found a lump in her breast, and went to the doctor to have it checked at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. Thankfully, the lump was benign, but at the follow-up visit, the doctors told Chan that her weight was dangerously low.
Yale forced Chan to undergo weekly weigh-ins, as well as meet with a nutritionist and a mental health professional to determine if Chan suffered from an eating disorder. If Chan did not follow through, Yale told her she would be put on medical leave from the school, per TheBlaze.com.
From September 2013 until April of 2014, Chan complied with Yale’s demands and worked on a regimen to gain weight. FoxNews.com reported Chan’s claim saying, “I ate ice cream twice a day. I ate cookies. I used elevators instead of walking up stairs. But I don’t really gain any weight.” The fact is, she only gained two pounds in seven months. First, that is hard to swallow. Many of us would love to eat ice cream twice a day with cookies, never exercise and only gain two pounds in seven months.
On the other hand, when Yale was asked about Chan’s situation, Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said the university could not discuss the individual medical treatment of its students. However, he noted that, “Yale has a strong system of mental health care for students,” according to FoxNews.com. What about the physical health from eating all the ice cream and cookies?
After months of jumping through hoops for Yale, Chan decided to take matters into her own hands and began doing research. With this research she was able to argue that Yale university places too much emphasis on body mass index (BMI). And in an article she wrote in The Huffington Post, she continues to say that BMI is not a proper indicator of overall health.
Chan eventually was able to see a new doctor at Yale, who has been reported by FoxNews.com as allegedly claiming that Yale made a mistake. The doctor apologized and agreed with Chan that the BMI is not the final and only factor.
The weekly weigh-ins have since stopped, along with the weight gain regimen and ice cream and cookie binges. Yale will not divulge any private information, but Chan is still attending classes. I guess she learned how to pull her weight and get what she wants.
