MIT, Cornell,... pass your swim test or you won't graduate

Time to sink or graduate - The Boston Globe: "Hundreds of college seniors nationwide are similarly in deep. At Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia, where swim proficiency also is required, it is time to sink or swim. For students like Yeh, who has aced virtually every exam in her 22 years, it is time to face demons under the surface.

College swim requirements, which sprang up after World War II, have been in decline since the 1970s. One criticism: The test was biased against those who grew up away from the water.

Among the colleges dropping it: MIT's cross-town rival, Harvard. By 1997, just 14 percent of schools had a swim test, according to a North Carolina State University survey. And more schools have dropped the test since, though college is one of the last chances for mass instruction, said Frank Ormond III, an associate professor of physical education who conducted the North Carolina State survey."