A few years ago, Lincoln University(in PA) did establish a fitness requirement as opposed to a phys ed one. Based upon a Body Mass Index, students are exempted from or required to take fitness classes.

— Christina | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

Having completed my PE requirement first semester my freshman year, and having taken at least two potential credits of clasess every semester since, I don't see what the big deal is.

The thing is, if there isn't a PE requirement, there isn't a point for a PE department. If there isn't a PE department, there isn't going to be yoga or fencing or dance or tennis. Facilities might exist, but classes wouldn't. People would not be incentivized to explore new physical activity. It's basically the same reason we have any distribution requirement. You could make the argument that the engineers should be exempted from the humanities requirement because it takes time away from their mechanical studies.

And, you know, even if bowling or golfing aren't the most rigorous of activities, they're both expensive ones which a college student might not be able to afford on a regular basis. I know I couldn't've. Heck, I probably couldn't afford to pay for local area social dancing twice a week.

For someone as active as you claim, fufilling the PE requirement should be a cinch. You can choose tennis or fitness training or something that aligns to your normal routine (if you so desperately don't want to try something new), and then just don't exercise as much other times in the week. If you're actually staying fit, three hours is below the bare minimum of exercise that you should be getting.

So seriously. I look forward to seeing the tenor of your upcoming columns, but I hope they are not all argumentative merely for the sake of being argumentative.

— Herbert | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

Yes, PE totally sucks. But stop being such a whiner and just do it. If you have your own exercise regime or whatever, just take fitness training. If you don't (like me), PE is probably good for you.

— m | Unregistered, Swarthmore

I agree that many students are fully capable of working out on their own and perhaps exceptions need to be made that count going to the gym as PE credit but I think a fitness test would only serve to stress people out and cause embarrassment for some.

In personal experience, as a freshman, I would not have been able to pass a fitness test. I would have felt very embarrassed about being judged. These days (thanks in part to the PE credit requirement) I run and lift several times a week but I still have doubts about running a mile quickly (I could make it under 10 min at this point, but probably not much faster).

I agree that perhaps the system should be refined, but I think PE credit of some form is good idea.

— Niki | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Haters. (Herbert especially.)

— late for PE | Unregistered, Swarthmore

I don't think it's such a wonderful idea to divide the freshman class up into the "fit" - who receive special privileges - and the "unfit". How do we evaluate fitness anyway? BMI is supposedly a measure of body fat based on your height and weight, but it is not a measure of fitness. Are students whose medications make them put on weight, or who have thyroid conditions or other special needs "unfit" or do we make special concessions for them?

Also, what about the athletic department staff who teach the PE classes - fire them?

— J | Unregistered, Swarthmore

*yawn* if you're really that fit, you wouldn't complain about doing some upkeep.

— Gabriel Riccio | Registered, Swarthmore

Is it just me, or by the end of this article had the word 'fit' become really creepy to anyone else? Like, social darwinism creepy.

— gives me goose flesh | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Well, we do have the Swim Test that serves to make sure none of us drown in the Crum as soon as we graduate. But students already find that a worry or a hassle and we only have to take it once. To establish a fitness test to be taken by every single student every semester will probably be a lot less convenient than it sounds.

And hey, the PE classes are fun! You named ping pong, bowling, fitness training, golf, African dance, Aikido, and yoga. There's also volleyball, swing dance, folk dance, tap dance, fencing, Ultimate, and a whole lot more. The point of having a whole slew of PE activities all at different times, is to allow everybody to find one that does fit in well with their schedule and to do something they might never have had a chance to do otherwise. And this "exploration" thing is obviously on the initiative of the student to be responsible for if s/he desires. The fact that some students find that they enjoy taking doing ping pong four semesters in a row doesn't detract at all from the value of having two dozen other activities available and making participation in at least one of them a requirement.

And now a shameless plug for Swing Club, which meets in Upper Tarble every Monday at 9pm!

— Andrew '12 | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Hey, leave Rachel Head out of this. It's a college rule that you have to fulfill the PE requirement by a certain point to be guaranteed housing. She's doing you a favor by reminding you of this so that when you're too busy getting 'fit' in all your free time and don't remember the requirements, you're not totally surprised to be homeless.

— L | Unregistered, Swarthmore

swimming is racist and classist..? thats a bit of a stretch if you ask me. and regardless, learning how to swim or at least attempting to wont hurt heck it might even be useful later on in life..

— learn how to swim | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

I want to second J above on the difficulties of establishing a standard for "fitness," and I echo the question of how to measure it. BMI is not an accurate measure of fitness. Moreover, even among pretty decent athletes, skills and abilities will vary. As a dancer/martial artist, I can lift my leg over my head and keep it there for awhile, which maybe my wrestler/rugby player roommate couldn't do, but she can run for miles at a time, which I currently can't.

Would you be happier if the PE classes forced everyone to maintain the exercise regimen of an athlete? We all come here with different levels of experience and goals, as you've pointed out, so it's important for some classes to be a little friendlier to athletic newcomers.

Also, if you like tennis and lifting, why are you taking ping-pong and bowling? If your busy schedule is so taxing, kill two birds with one stone by actually, you know, doing your preferred PE with your PE requirement. The variety of classes here makes it especially easy to fulfill your requirement if you are interested in fitness.

"the students who want to explore these different methods would be free to do so with or without the requirement."

What would you recommend in place of a PE department? Personally, I'm grateful that I don't have to choose between taking dance as an academic class and completing my non-dance major. I'm grateful that the PE department offers credit for participation in clubs, so that we can get funding for qualified instructors and recruit members. And I can't believe that these and other opportunities would just hang around if students no longer had a requirement to fulfill.

Learn how to swim: I don't think Stephanie said that "swimming is racist and classist." She said that swimming is a skill that reflects race and class divisions, so we should be sensitive about testing it publicly. Sectors of our population have much higher percentages of swimming skills, based on racial and class-related factors like swimming pool access. Just because you don't perceive it that way doesn't make it "a stretch," and certainly doesn't mean that all those people just don't know how to swim because they're too lazy and stupid to "[learn] how... or at least [attempt] to." Yes, swimming might be useful in life and it wouldn't hurt to know how to do it - just like, oh, I don't know, quantum mechanics, cooking, or self-defense.

It also can be very useful to know how to play golf. (And golf's athletic, to boot.) Can you acknowledge the class- and race-based divisions there?

— Simone Fried | Unregistered, Swarthmore

14 comments in response to some bro talking doling out "The Truth" about the PE requirement.

4 comments in response to the school censoring press coverage.

ok sure you guys whatever

— Ah, Swarthmore | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Stephanie, not a bad point. But are people not able to just opt out of the test and go for the class? I'd be surprised if they couldn't but I'm not sure. That said, it is kind of a goofy tradition and I don't think people are really looked down upon if they don't suceed.

Possible solution to main problem at hand: maybe PE dept could, like every other dept, offer independent studies? I don't think you'd really go for that unless you were actually into fitness (and aren't having your needs met with a class) and it could be an opportunity to work on your regimen and prove your fitness without he tackiness and dubious validity of a BMI (mine is probably good and I do no physical activity whatsoever).

— Peter '11 | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

@ KCL: point number two in your post is wrong. Adam Hertz is listed on the college's website as both the "Marian Ware Director of Athletics", and elsewhere as "Director of Physical Education AND Athletics." I did a google search, and found the information in about thirty seconds. Did you not even bother to look?

— Even more ironic | Unregistered, Swarthmore

A bit more on the responsibilities of coaches at NCAA Division III institutions:

We begin training six weeks before our first competition, which is five months before the end of our conference championship, and six months before NCAAs. In-season preparations include writing workouts and line-ups, studying the conference, keeping statistics, and working with students on a personal basis, just as academic professors do.

As noted above, a vast majority of the rest of the time is spent on gaining the interest of prospective student-athletes, which is difficult to do without scholarship money. Our coaches spend days and nights calling and emailing these students and meeting with them when they visit campus. This is an extensive and time-consuming process crucial to the health of the program.

During their sabbatical leaves, Swarthmore coaches visit leading Division I programs to study their training regimens.

Meanwhile, Swarthmore coaches sit on various NCAA and Centennial Conference Committees.

In short, coaching at the NCAA level entails more than a "few" responsibilities, especially in the off-season.

— Danny Friel | Unregistered, Swarthmore

@ Stephanie Appiah: Thank you.

@ Ah, Swarthmore: Good point.

— Common Sense | Unregistered, Swarthmore

@Ah,Swarthmore,
(this is irrelevant to this thread, so feel free to ignore):
What's the point of talking about censorship if the comments I want to make will be censored. I'm kind of discouraged, I'm a senior, and I feel like no one is listening to me about it anyways. :sad emoticon:

— Stephanie Appiah | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Your right, Jon, my first point about your subject matter giving that dead horse another beating, and thus violating journalism rules, is flat wrong. Swing away - it sure drummed up some passion and dialogue (not to mention readers).

Now I know my comments did enough to rile you up, Jon, but I guess not enough to get you to correct the spelling of Mullan's name or take the paraphrase out of quotations. (Mike MullEN is on the front of the NY Times today)

Per the Director PE title: I am said to be wrong based on a Google search that shows two Web sites that show varying information. Did you check Wikipedia too? The fourth hit on the Google search links to an article in the Bulletin claiming Harleigh Leach Chwastyk was hired as the director of PE in 2005. Lots of confusion surrounds your solution to the requirement.

I hope I didn't become "nasty," "vindictive" and "mean-spirited" in these comments.

— KCL | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

on my way to fitness training and all i can think is &*@! the p.e. requirement.

...i get enough exercise hauling my 15 pound backpack to class everyday...

— studious, but not athletic | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Seriously?
You applied to come here, kiddo. Don't be such a wimp.

Also, a fitness test would be more irritating and intrusive than a few gym classes.

— Argos | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Dude, I totally agree with you about this, but come on: you sound so aggrieved, and the issue is SO minor.

Also, fitness testing is as dumb as a P.E. req. Why should the college care about our fitness? Optional courses on weight-lifting, running, swimming, and like wilderness survival (which is way more important than swimming, I think; you're more likely to get stranded in the woods than need to escape an island) would be cool. But we don't need a dedicated staff to teach them. If you paid me $20 a week I would totally put two hours of labor into teaching other people about running form, stretching, and workouts.

Some day it'll happen. Right around the time the college is in a real budget crisis, and realizes they need to cut extraneous things like an athletics dept. I'd be surprised if we still had varsity athletics, with a coaching staff, in 50 years, and shocked if we still did in 100.

— snr. xc runner | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Instead of the money that goes to P.E. classes like Bowling and such and instead of the effort and overall resources that go into the P.E. requirement, the college should use that money to expand the gym/build an actual gym/get more up to date equipment, so that the students that want to work out can do so while the students that don't want to aren't bothered by stupid P.E. requirements. Working out at Swarthmore is not fun - the gym gets too busy at times, most high school gyms have more space and better equipment. It is hypocritical for the institution to make students fulfill P.E. requirements with the facilities being the way they are.

Related: I think the usage of the gym/tennis courts by staff and faculty should be re-evaluated. My general feeling is that what we have was not put into place for the students, but for the 'community'.

Related: Our coaches are good sports-specific coaches, but are inadequate at best when teaching other sports/fitness. I have witnessed them drawing up programs for fitness that are, at best, inefficient and, at worst, dangerous. We also have had more than one assistant baseball coach that is the strength and conditioning coach at the same time for the college with absolutely no qualifications. As far as I am aware, the only staff/faculty on campus that are certified strength and conditioning coaches or certified personal trainers are some of the trainers, and with one exception I have not seen a fitness course offered by them.

— gym rat | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

Jon

"Speaking generally, if you want to find out who is the Director of Athletics in 2010, don't consult articles written in 2005, but consult the Department of Athletics homepage updated in 2010."

1) I was questioning who was the Director of PE, not the Director of Athletics. Thanks for stretching out and contacting the actual department, I hope you stretched before you reached beyond your mouse.

2) The article was written in 2008, not 2005 (that was the date of Chwastyk's hire as PE director). My information was dated, but your dates had misinformation.

I don't care about riling you up, but I care about you riling up the student body with falsehoods. The PE credit, and the Athletics department in general, have been sore subjects to the general student body for years.

Remind me again how Adam Hertz sees financial gains from the PE credit? Is he charging admission at the door of the fitness class?

I'll ask again: please correct the spelling of Mike Mullan's name and afford him a proper title.

— KCL | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

I just feel that if you're going to highlight a column with "The Truth" in big bold letters and flank it with a javelin wielding Centurion, you need to have a more interesting sort of "J'accuse!" typish statement...you know, I miss the Guinea Pig.

— Argos | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Unless you have seen Jon shirtless, as I have, you cannot justly call him a wimp.

— On His Side | Unregistered, Swarthmore

Thanks for the input, Jon Emont '11.

— raghu's backpack | Unregistered, Swarthmore

I am evidence of what happens when you don't have a PE requirement. Need evidence?

http://3putt.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/andy-reid1.jpg

The PE requirement offers the opportunity for a lot of people to learn about fitness and build healthy gym going habits that they would not do if they weren't forced to. I think what you should call for is a more flexible fitness requirement, like being able to sign in at the gym and sign out once you've already taken a fitness training class. Then if you have enough hours, you get credit.

Another solution: restart the Swarthmore football team and make participation mandatory. And get Tim Tebow since he won't get drafted. Then we can destroy Haverford and have like one conservative student on campus. Diversity of thought, what?!

— Andy Reid | Unregistered, Swarthmore

I don't think it's very 'journalistic' to present arguments on here without disclosing to be a former member of the department and related to one of the people mentioned in the comments. just sayin'.

— side note | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

There was an effort made by several students either last year or the year before who wanted to get support from the athletic department to have a personal training certification class on campus for either no, p.e. or academic credit. This effort was denied. One of the options would have been to offer this course and then hire students to work as personal trainers in the gym. The resources devoted to some of those obscure p.e. classes would have easily been enough to finance such a program. Why did it never get anywhere? I don't know, but some of the reasons John listed hint at an answer to this question.

— observer | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

gym rat-

Michael Salem, the track team weight lifting and throwing coach, knows everything you could need to about working out. He's teaching fitness training in spring II.

— Seth Green | Registered, Swarthmore

Seth-

I am sure he knows "everything" one could need to about working out. I am also sure that he was a Political Science major in college. Does he have a CSCS? You wouldn't let someone who didn't go to med school but knows everything one could need to know about surgery actually perform it on you. I'm not saying that he can't provide you with a great workout and granted, he is huge and has worked out a lot for sure, but it's still kind of like getting nutrition advice from an anorexic. Being a gym rat does not qualify you to design an effective workout - and that's the reason any school that takes fitness seriously should have a trained professional to go to for workout advice.

— gym ratt | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

Just saying,

Big blunder.

I was also a contributor to the Daily Gazette (knowingly and sometimes unknowingly through my Swat Sports Update). The first real hit on a Google search of my name is linked to this site. The irony runs rampant.

--Kyle C. Leach
former Swarthmore Director of Sports Information (2005-2009)

— KCL | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore

Dear Stephanie,

"Why not just offer the class for people who don't know how to swim?"

I remember this being an option you could check. Something along the lines of "If you don't feel comfortable taking this test and like to be enrolled in aquatics I, check this box."

— Kat | Unregistered, Swarthmore

I don't feel like reading all the comments, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but D3 coaches work extremely hard in the off-season selling the school to prospective students and doing a million other things. So that part of the article is completely ridiculous and unfounded.

Also, the PE requirement really isn't a big deal or remotely hard to fulfill.

— AA | Unregistered, Swarthmore