Starting next year, it may not matter if students of one Pennsylvania university have 120 credits and a GPA of 4.0 – they may be just too fat to graduate.

According to James DeBoy, professor and chair of the department of health, physical education and recreation at Lincoln University, all students graduating in 2010 or later will have to pass a BMI test and get a 30or below — the standard for obesity. Students who do not meet this requirement will have to take HPR 103: Fitness for Life in spring 2010 to be able to graduate.

Deboy said this was a policy that was decided on four years ago in 2006 when the class entered the university, and now they will be the first class to be held to the health standard. He hopes the plan will help students labeled “at-risk” by the BMI test.

“We as a faculty need to stay the course for our kids and our future,” DeBoy said. “Right now, today’s children will not live longer than their parents. This is the first time this will happen in history. Basically every college has fitness courses — we’re forcing upon them this intervention.”

According to DeBoy, there is no other college in the nation that has adopted a plan for student health like this. DeBoy hopes the plan will address the obesity epidemic and the illnesses that come with it, including heart diseases, stroke, Type II diabetes, selected cancers and musculo-skeletal disorders.

There are 620 students in the graduating class of 2010. Of those students, 85 percent will be exempt from the class, and 15 percent will have to take it.

There are 80 students out of the class who have not had their BMI tested, and DeBoy predicts that out of the 80, maybe 16 will have to take the course.

“The biggest thing to fight is the discrimination card,”DeBoy said. “No educator wants to be on the end of that.”

DeBoy said while there has been some praise for the policy, it has come under fire. In response to criticism since the policy has been passed, DeBoy sent out a letter to faculty to tell them to “stay the course.”

“The reasons cited for colleges not opting for intervention are multitudinous: time, cost, effort, misinformation and fear. Colleges will be damned if they try and can avoid public outcry when they ignore, minimize, or deny that a problem exists or that it is simply not their business nor in their best interest,” DeBoy said in the letter to faculty.

Susan Nitzke, a nutrition professor at University of Wisconsin, said eating right, exercising and getting enough sleep should measure health rather than a number, and the tactics of Lincoln’s policy were reminiscent of those used on shows such as “The Biggest Loser.” She also said some athletes are overweight because of their high muscle mass.

“It’s not something we’ve ever considered doing,” said John Lucas, UW spokesperson. “We’re interested in a healthy student body, but it’s not something we’ve ever mandated. It’s never been our intention to regulate physical fitness.”