The mandatory swim test for incoming undergraduates is a long-standing requirement that should remain a part of Cornell’s physical education curriculum. The Student Assembly resolution to make the test optional that was introduced at Thursday’s meeting, if implemented, would undermine the University’s definition of a well-rounded education and represent an unfortunate upheaval of Cornell tradition.

Notwithstanding the S.A.’s lack of jurisdiction or influence over University graduation requirements, we find inherent value in the University’s aquatic skills requirement for several reasons.

Contrary to the text of the S.A. resolution, the swim test is consistent with Cornell’s mission to provide its students with a broad-based education. In addition, the University has a history of promoting and teaching skills that have a practical application to the real world. On a planet whose surface is about 70 percent water, proficiency in swimming is clearly an important aspect of a well-rounded education. Being able to swim is also an important personal safety consideration for anyone. Furthermore it is a matter public safety on Cornell’s campus that features numerous gorges and other bodies of water.

For students who come from backgrounds with limited or no access to oceans, pools or swimming instruction, the swim test can even be a worthwhile cultural experience. The ability to swim may also expand the range of opportunities that one has for exercise and maintaining physical fitness.

It appears that the University is appropriately accommodating of students with legitimate disabilities or other reasons that prevent them from being able to swim. If that is not the case, the University should reform its policy as needed. However, the underlying concept of the swim test remains valid.

Most intangibly, the swim test is an institutional tradition at Cornell. For 92 years, it has been one of very few requirements that apply to the University's entire undergraduate population.

Even President David Skorton acknowledged the significance of the tradition by choosing to take the swim test alongside incoming freshman in 2006.

Standing in line in one's bathing suit at Helen Newman Hall or Teagle Hall surrounded by a bunch of strangers during the first week of college is a truly unifying experience that Cornelians have shared for nearly a century. The University should continue to maintain this tradition as a valuable part of the Cornell undergraduate experience.