14 DAY TRIAL // A Yale student started force-feeding herself unhealthy food in order to put on weight after university officials threatened to expel her because she was too thin.
Frances Chan, who is 5.16ft (1.57m) tall and weighs 90lbs (41kg), says that, since September, Ivy League school required her to do weekly weigh-ins and urine tests to prove she wasn't suffering from an eating disorder.
Yale even imposed mandatory sessions with a mental health professional and a nutritionist.
Chan says she has always been thin, but healthy, and her low weight was never a problem to her.
“My mom was the same; my whole family is skinny. [...] I just don't gain weight easily,” she explained.
However, after school officials threatened to kick her out if she didn't gain weight, the 20-year-old history major began stuffing her face with cookies, ice cream, Cheetos and other junk food. She even started taking the elevator instead of using the stairs. In a nutshell, she tried to do as she was told.
But despite her desperate efforts to put some flesh on her bones, Chan only managed to gain two pounds (0.9 kg). The student tried to explain college officials that her entire family are naturally skinny, she sent in childhood medical records and even had her doctor call the New Haven, Connecticut, school, but all her attempts to convince them that this was her normal weight were in vein.
“It felt really bad to be this powerless. I ate ice cream twice a day. I ate cookies. I used elevators instead of walking up stairs. But I don't really gain any weight,” she said, according to Daily Mail.
After months of fighting with her college's officials, Chan decided to write an article about her experience for Huffington Post, explaining her frustration and detailing her struggle with Yale.
“No more weigh-ins, no more blood draws. I don't have an eating disorder, and I will not let Yale Health cause me to develop one,” she wrote. “If Yale wants to kick me out, let them try - in the meantime, I'll be studying for midterms, doing my best to make up for lost time.”
On Friday, her ordeal came to an end, as she was allowed to see a new physician who admitted that BMI (Body mass index – a screening tool used for a variety of possible weight problems in adults) was not the only significant measure of proper health.
Chan will continue being monitored by Yale Health, but she will only come in for check-ups once per semester.