In November Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University considered denying diplomas to overweight seniors who had not made serious attempts to lose weight. Amid protests and ridicule, Lincoln dropped the plan and will now merely suggest that overweight students consider taking a “Fitness for Life” class.
But in an arguably related issue, many universities are now cracking down on smoking. Time reports that:
At many colleges, smokers are being run not just out of school buildings but off the premises. On Nov. 19, the University of Kentucky, the tobacco state’s flagship public institution, launched a campuswide ban on cigarettes and all other forms of tobacco on school grounds and parking areas. Pro-nicotine students staged a “smoke-out” to protest the new policy, which even rules out smoking inside cars if they’re on school property.
According to the article, more than 365 U.S. colleges have rules about not smoking on outdoor campus property. In Kentucky’s case, the school still plans to let smokers graduate, however.
The University of Kentucky is also home to the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center. Tobacco is one of Kentucky’s major state agricultural products.
