UNC textbook claims about cancer and Holocaust caused controversy

[left-of-center2012]

A textbook for a required fitness class at UNC-Chapel Hill is under review by the university after criticism about its content ... The textbook, “21st Century Fitness,” is used by nearly 5,000 undergraduates at UNC each year as part of the required fitness class that includes physical education.

The book calls cancer and diabetes “diseases of choice.”
And it describes a theory by Holocaust survivor and Austrian psychotherapist Victor Frankl about concentration camps:
“The people in the camps who did not tap into the strength that comes from recognizing their intrinsic worth succumbed to the brutality to which they were subjected.”

Abigail Panter, senior associate dean for undergraduate education, said ““The University understands the concerns and sensitivities around certain excerpts in the online text book ... Edits could not be made in time for use in the ongoing semester.”

The book was written by Ron Hager and Barbara Lockhart, faculty in exercise sciences at Brigham Young. Hager has defended the book. He pointed out that research backs up the notion that personal choices have consequences ...

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article215993275.html

[left-of-center2012]

1. I just saw this update:

CHAPEL HILL
A controversial textbook for a UNC-Chapel Hill fitness course has been revised for this fall, university officials say.

In a statement, the university said the department of exercise and sport science worked with the publisher of “21st Century Fitness” to make “multiple edits to the content and length of the book.”

“These edits are based on student and department faculty feedback and are part of an ongoing curriculum review process by the Exercise and Sport Science Curriculum Committee,” the statement said. “Among other changes, the publisher has confirmed that references to the Holocaust and to cancer as ‘a disease of choice’ had already been removed from the fall 2018 edition.”

The statement said the process of editing the online textbook began in the spring of 2018, but university officials made no mention of that when initially asked about the book by The News & Observer this summer. UNC later received national attention about the book.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article216230130.html

[Borchkins]

2. This makes me sick

WTF

[Brother Buzz]

3. The book was written by Mormon professors at BYU

And it's totally acceptable through Mormon lenses.

Think about it.