<p>Yes, good old pushups, dips, pullups, and such can be done in many places outside of the gym… although colleges often have subsidized gyms for student use (particularly athletes).</p>
<p>Of course this is about liability. You can meet with a lawyer for an hour for $150-200 and at least get some ideas.</p>
<p>This policy is very common, at many schools. However, in this case, it does seem that this is a prescription for an eating disorder rather than a preventative measure. I think you can argue that it is harmful.</p>
<p>One tip: eating disorder clinics do not use scales. Weigh-ins create problems. You can prove that by providing eating disorder expert information and argue that they are putting her in danger with this requirement. It is also detrimental to her mental health in other ways.</p>
<p>But you need to take legal action or at least appear to be ready to do so, because, as I said, this is all about liability and you need to reverse it so that the liability lies in what they are doing now, not in NOT doing it.</p>
<p>I agree with those that say to get her medical records. Have her sign-off on the release forms for the college and her family provider and read them. If there is nothing in the medical notes or lab tests then you would have grounds for talking to the college. There are as many serious health reasons not to be underweight as there are health reasons not to be overweight. </p>
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<p>That is insane. rhandco gives very good advice in post #8 to request to see the school’s written policy that says students must meet certain physical requirements (height/weight) to remain enrolled. I bet there is no such written policy, and if there is it’s probably illegal.</p>
<p>I can understand that there may be such requirements to participate in athletics; that make sense as long as the requirements are reasonable. But doesn’t the crew team want a light coxswain? She’s not pulling an oar.</p>
<p>From the college website (which I won’t name, but is evident from your posting history): </p>
<p>"Concern for the entire student led to the creation of a comprehensive treatment and education team for students who are struggling with eating disorders. The team consists of Health Center personnel, the college nutritionist and members of Sports Medicine (when appropriate). The team meets during the semester to discuss policy, to plan clinical care, and to plan educational efforts that would benefit the students with whom it is working.</p>
<p>Students may be referred to the team by the Athletic Department, Health Services, Psychological Counseling Services, and through self-referral."</p>
<p>It sounds like the OP’s daughter has been diagnosed with an eating disorder by the college, and that a clinical care plan has been established. </p>
<p>^^^
IF the student has been diagnosed with an eating disorder (and it doesn’t sound like this is the case), wouldn’t she still have to consent to treatment? The college can’t force her to receive treatment. And if she refuses treatment, is there a written policy that says she will be disenrolled? Highly doubtful.</p>
<p>She has not been diagnosed with an ED: the Health Center acknowledges lack of ED and lack of any underlying medical concern. They are concerned because she is what they consider to be underweight. They are concerned because her BMI does not fall within established parameters. Period. </p>
<p>This kind of stuff is worrisome to me. How common is it for schools to pay attention to BMI? Is it only for athletes? I can understand how they would be concerned about anorexia, especially in female athletes, but there are people who are naturally very thin.</p>
<p>My son is terribly underweight and has been his entire life. He is healthy and is applying to colleges for next year. He isn’t an athlete, but I would be furious if his attendance at college depended on some arbitrary weight/height requirement. I think this must be a byproduct of overweight becoming the new normal.</p>
<p>Middkid, yes she was actually ‘recruited’ ( I don’t mean officially recruited, just after being on campus) for that position bc she is a small/light athlete and that’s what they are looking for. The cox has to be under 120 I think. </p>
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<p>Well then, their only justification for requiring any kind of “treatment” plan is because it’s an athletic requirement. As sucky as it sounds, if she wants to stay on the crew team she will probably just have to continue to put up with the BS.</p>
<p>So where did the implied threat of not being allowed to stay on campus unless she gains weight come from?</p>
<p>Massmomm, I doubt your son will face any issues unless he is playing a sport with height/weight requirements. The larger issue is with female students and BMI concern obviously stems from prevalence of ED in adolescent girls, and some skinny girls are just getting caught in the crosshairs. </p>
<p>Yes, so the OP should get her daughter to sign the release and read the files. Something led to this and my guess it is more than simply weight. I just glanced back but don’t recall the OP telling us her D’s height or weight, but girls are especially “good” at hiding eating disorders also so the D may not be telling the OP everything. If the D won’t release at a minimum the college records there is more to the story. Hopefully this college has the same program for obese students as they do for underweight students. </p>
<p>Middkid, I think you’re right and she’ll have to comply if there are team or even campus weight standards for athletes. I’ll know more when I talk to her tonight and the college on Monday. I guess I should add that I’m sure the original impetus for colleges to get involved in managing girls’ bodies was a benign desire to be on the right side of the issue - to be helping rather than harming - to be a safe place for young women, etc. It just may be that some policies are having unintended negative consequences for some girls. Hard cases make bad law I guess.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean she should meekly comply.</p>
<p>In your place, I would get her a lawyer. Your daughter is being bullied. If this is her normal weight, it’s her normal weight—and they shouldn’t be trying to force her to gain weight. If the health center has admitted she doesn’t have an ED, and there isn’t any underlying concern, forcing her to gain weight to comply with written policies could be dangerous (in the long term). </p>
<p>Another tact for her to try would be to publish an article in the school paper, if she’s comfortable with publicity. As I recall, when the Yale girl did, it made a difference. </p>
<p>Do you have a family picture at hand? It would be persuasive if you had a picture of the small, slight, women in your family in a group photo, from Thanksgiving or such. This policy, for the outliers, is nonsense. </p>
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<p>You’re seeing stuff that just isn’t there, based on the OP’s post. Go back and read everything. D is 5’ 4" and just under 100 lbs. This body type runs in the family. D has not been reluctant to share medical records.</p>
<p>momof3, You are right about the secretiveness of girls with ED but this not a kid with an ED. She loves to cook and bake, and actually was going to start a teen cooking blog this summer. She comes from a family where we really struggle to keep weight on. My highest pregnancy weight was 125. I weigh ~95 right now and I eat ice cream every day. Her sister is 5’3" and weighs under 100. I would say that an average weight for D in question is ~ 100 pounds. I could mention that she was a preemie. Born at less than 3 pounds and often preemies stay very thin all their lives. She comes by it naturally and strives to gain rather than vice versa. </p>
<p>The problem is with the arbitrary numbers. Low weight does not equal eating disorder and the most dangerous eating disorder may well be bulimia which basically means a lot of vomiting up food to maintain a normal weight. So yeah. Now, if this is strictly for a sport they can do what they want. If it’s for school in general, it’s a problem.</p>
<p>Does NESCAC have a weight minimum rule for Coxswains? </p>
<p>I appreciate all the constructive advice and helpful input here and in PMs. No one has to go out of his or her way to help a stranger, and it sure is nice to be on the receiving end. </p>
<p>I’m pretty familiar with this school, and if it’s been suggested to the student, either explicitly or implicitly, that maintaining a certain weight is an enrollment requirement where there is no diagnosis of an ED, that shocks me. Someone has dropped the ball here. There are a lot of smart, common sense administrators at this school. If push comes to shove, letting a higher-up know what’s going on will likely quickly rectify the situation.</p>