IVORY TOWERS: P.E. requirements around universities

Kinesiology is not part of the pre-med curriculum. Actually, it's not even offered at the University. The term is sometimes used as a front for Physical Education classes, which were abolished at the University and several peer institutions in the 1950s and 1970s. Other schools have retained P.E. requirements, though they are taking heat in times of financial belt-tightening and student opposition. But even though there is no Phys Ed requirement at the University, or at four other Ivy League institutions, individual students often develop their own athletic regimens. The University was the first of the Ivies to abolish its requirement in 1953. Brown, Harvard and Yale universities followed suit in the early 1970s. Outside the Ivy League, Stanford University abolished its requirement at about the same time. "Close to 60 percent of the students are involved in some sort of activity," University Recreation Intramural Sports Director Robert Glascott said last week. "So many do their own thing." The University got rid of the requirement as a part of a "money-saving plan," Glascott said. It was extremely expensive to pay staff for mandatory classes when students still got involved on their own volition. Though interest in physical fitness has risen sharply over the past decade, schools have not rushed to reinstate the P.E. requirements. The reasons behind their original deaths remain in most schools -- from student adversity towards requirements to philosophical conflicts. But there has been a surge in participation in intramural athletics, though the programs themselves have not been expanded considerably. At universities with P.E. requirements, the athletic directors are working hard to hold onto them at a time when administrators are encouraging their elimination. Like Glascott, many of the P.E. directors at universities without a requirement also said they would like to see some sort of mandatory class or test. "I would love to see a 'wellness' class," Harvard's Director of Intramural Athletics and Recreation John Wentzell said last week. "But opportunities to create [your own programs] are here, so I don't think that people are deprived." Eric Stein, the associate director of athletics for physical education and recreational sports at Princeton University, said he would like to have a fitness requirement if it would be followed. But he said the old requirement was "a Catch-22 situation" because students were allowed to graduate without fulfilling it. "It was a non-enforced requirement," Stein said. "It was on the books, but seniors still graduated." Unlike most of the other Ivy League schools, both students and administrators are against physical fitness requirements at Brown University. More than 20 years ago, when Brown established a new curriculum abolishing many academic requirements, a P.E. requirement was ruled incompatible. "The basic philosophy got in the way," Brown Physical Education Associate Janice Fifer said. · Administrators said that abolishing the P.E. requirement didn't decrease participation in athletics at universities with strong programs in a wide range of activities. Reported participation rates in athletic activities ranged from 85 percent at Princeton University -- where athletic classes are regularly filled to capacity -- to five percent at Johns Hopkins University. According to Harvard's Wentzell, about 50 percent of the students are involved in his school's physical fitness programs. "Those who want to do it, do," Wentzell said. Johns Hopkins Athletic Director Robert Scott said that in light of the student body's "modest participation," the old P.E. requirement "did serve a real good purpose." · Not all schools have dispensed with the requirements, keeping them even in spite of pressures like those which caused their demise elsewhere. Dartmouth College, one of the three Ivy League schools that has held onto its requirement, "came within an eyelash of losing it to save money," said Associate Director of Athletics for Physical Education and Recreational Sports Ken Jones. "We don't make educational decisions based on money." Columbia University Associate Professor of Physical Education Ken Torrey said he thinks having the requirement that his school has is important, but added that schools with strong intramural programs do not need to have a requirement. "A certain portion might not get over [to the gym] if it weren't required," Torrey noted. Outside of the Ivy League, P.E. requirements seem to be slightly more common. At the University of Chicago, students are required to take three quarters of P.E. classes, according to Associate Chair of the Physical Education Department Rosalee Resch. "We want students to have a lifetime sport," Resch said. "We're a liberal arts college and [want students to get] a complete body education." · There is no clear student mandate across universities either in support of or in opposition to P.E. requirements. The student view is not clear, according to both students and administrators. At Johns Hopkins, Scott said he did not think that a new requirement is a possibility because of student opposition. "The students rebelled at having to take a class with no credit," Scott said. "Students balked at it." But at Dartmouth, Jones said that positive results on questionaires reflect student favor of that school's P.E. requirements. Similar differences can be found among the students themselves. Some students feel that a P.E. requirement would benefit students, introducing them to a wide array of sports. "It would give all of the students an opportunity to participate in a sport that they may wish to continue throughout their college career," College freshman Jill Tilzer said last week. But at Harvard, where there is no requirement, one student described P.E. requirements as intrusive. "We're in college, so we have to be able to make our own decisions," said David Levin, a Harvard senior.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.