Bryn Mawr College apologizes for alleged 'fat shaming'

Suburban Philadelphia's Bryn Mawr College is now offering an apology for an email that's been called "fat shaming."

In a recent message to students - titled "Give a HOOT!" - the women's liberal arts college invited students with "elevated BMIs," or body-mass indexes, to join a "weight loss success program."

The 100 students who received the email were reportedly selected using records from the college's health center, which some saw as an invasion of privacy.

The message led to accusations of "fat shaming."

"Initially I was pretty horrified. I've dealt with an eating disorder for many years, and I didn't know how I could receive something like this from the same health center that treated me," Rudrani Sarma told CBS.

Sarma received the email after her BMI was incorrectly calculated. She wrote an open letter to the college on Facebook, calling the program "not ethical," "problematic," "hurtful" and "just plain stupid."

The university has apologized, saying it will rethink "approaches and ... assumptions moving forward."

Fewer than 2,000 students are currently enrolled at Bryn Mawr College. According to USA Today, the school has offered the weight-loss program twice in the past without incident.

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