Yale Threatened To Suspend Student For Being Too Thin
It's pretty safe to say that Yale University took things too far in their latest attempt to suspend one of their students... because of her weight.
Twenty-year-old Frances Chan was threatened by Yale health officials who told her that she would be placed on medical leave if she did not comply with the University's demand that she gain weight.
Chan, who is 5'2" and 92 pounds, tried to explain that she had always been this slim. Chan's parents even sent old medical records to the school to prove that their daughter was naturally slender.
"I don't know if my body is even capable of gaining three more pounds," Chan wrote in a Huffington Post blog detailing her journey to gain weight.
Chan's quest to gain weight began when she visited a cancer hospital on campus in September to have a lump in her breast checked. Although the lump was benign, Yale health officials became concerned over her weight.
Soon after her hospital visit, Chan was subjected to mandatory weekly weigh-ins. She was even forced to see a mental health professional and a nutritionist.
"It felt really bad to be this powerless," Chan told the New Haven Register. "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."
Perhaps it was all the media surrounding Chan or perhaps it was a change of heart, but after months of weight gain torture, Yale University recently came to their senses and dismissed their threat of suspension.
Chan took to Facebook to celebrate the news,
"Just visited Yale Health with my parents and met with a new doctor. She apologized repeatedly for the 'months of anguish' I went through and admitted that BMI is not the end all be all. She also looked at my medical records since freshman year (which the previous clinician had not done) and noted that she saw that my weight had remained around the same. So she trusts that I do not have an eating disorder and admitted that 'we made a mistake.' She also does not want me to feel uncomfortable coming to Yale Health if I get a flu or something. I do still have to see them, but at most once a semester. And I'll be away for the coming year, so....LET TIME BE A MIGHTY RIVER!!!"
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