Bryn Mawr College Feels The Heat After Emails About BMI Are Sent Out

Philadelphia’s Bryn Mawr College is feeling the heat during the snow storm as word spreads of an email that was sent out to 100 students offering them access to a fitness program designed for students with a high body mass index.

The email immediately struck a chord with students as many began lashing out at the college for what many deem as “fat shaming”.

Bryn Mawr spokesman Matt Gray said, “There were truly good intentions behind this. It’s a program that includes individual counseling, nutritional advice and group support.”

Rudrani Sarma was one of the students to receive the email about the weight loss class. She took to Facebook to air her feelings about the email. She wrote a post saying:

“You’re telling students that they need to fit an arbitrary measurement of health (that has been criticized to the nth degree). You’re telling students that it’s more important to lose weight than to be healthy. You’re telling students that you discriminate based on weight by compiling a list of ‘fat’ students. A year ago, getting an email like this would have set me back years of counseling and self-esteem work. I’m in a good enough place now to call out your bullsh**. How day you, Bryn Mawr?”

The issue of weight and “fat shaming” is a particularly sensitive one for Sarma as she has had her own battles with an eating disorder during her time at the all women’s college.

She told the WPVI, “I felt very targeted. It didn’t feel like the school had my best interest at heart. Knowing my personal history, it was an e-mail telling me to lose weight.”

Dr. Kay Kerr, the director of college’s health center, issued the following apology:

“On behalf of everyone involved with this program, I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been upset or offended by our communications, and I want to reassure the community that we will rethink our approached and our assumptions moving forward.”