480 in the collection
Professors Must Dress Up or Face a Dressing-Down at Tri-State U.
Ohanian Comment: If truth be known, I wish public school teachers would clean up their dress codes.
This news item appeared in the a.m. In the afternoon there was an update. Apparently some consider this a victory. Maybe I'm showing my age, but I still appreciate teachers who comb their hair, remove their tongue rings, and refrain from exposing their bellies while performing their professional duties.
University Redresses Wardrobe Malfunction by Dropping Draconian Dress Code
Power of the press? After The Chronicle published an article this morning on Tri-State University’s proscriptive new faculty and staff dress code, professors at the Indiana university were told that they may now show up for work in scuffed shoes, wrinkled shirts, and, for those still possessing hair, Mohawks.
The dress code was intended to “elevate who we are as an institution,” said David Finley, the university’s vice president for academic affairs, not to alienate employees. He announced today that the October 1 policy had been rescinded while administrators review with faculty members what wardrobe best befits a Tri-State professor. —Paula Wasley
By Paula Wasley
Faculty members at Tri-State University, in Indiana, are hot under the collar about a stringent new dress code for professors and staff members.
The new "personal-appearance policy" at the private, nondenominational university bans spandex, scuffed shoes, hats, shorts, baseball caps, skirts or pants worn below the waistline, Croc-type shoes, blue jeans, Mohawk hairstyles, facial piercings, visible tattoos, "the observable lack of undergarments," cross-gender garb, "dental art", clothing with logos or designs "in direct conflict with the culture and ethos of TSU," and "the use of coloring agents outside the spectrum of natural hair coloration."
The policy, which went into effect on October 1, also includes several highly specific commandments on men's and women's attire.
Male faculty members must wear ties and dress shirts—tucked in—with business or dress khakis. If those slacks have belt loops, a belt must be worn, the code decrees. Hair must be kept trimmed above the ears, any facial hair should be "well manicured," and absolutely no earrings are permitted on the job.
For women, low-cut tops and skirts any higher than just above the knee are verboten. Slit skirts must not be "too revealing," tops must cover the waistline "in all situations," and only "appropriate earrings" may be worn.
Things lighten up, however, on casual Fridays, or "Blue Days," when an asterisk on the policy permits both men and women to exhibit their school spirit with Tri-State polo shirts.
An Edict 'Out of the Blue'
Faculty members found flouting the dress code may face an oral warning or a written reprimand from a supervisor and the university's human-resources department, and possible additional disciplinary action "up to and including termination of employment," the policy states.
Sartorial choice at the 1,200-student university used to be guided by common sense and a generic requirement that faculty members "look professional and appropriate at all times," said Donald J. Kreitzer, the faculty president and an assistant professor of management at the university's Ketner School of Business.
The new dress code came "out of the blue," he said, and has rumpled many faculty members, most of whom already dress professionally, he noted.
As faculty president, Mr. Kreitzer has received complaints from several of the university's 70 faculty members who are angry that the policy was enacted without their input. "They run it like a company," Mr. Kreitzer said of the university's administrators.
He said he believes the policy was intended for a very small number of faculty members, who he said dressed inappropriately in the past but appear to have smartened up since the decree. While he thinks the fuss over the dress code will blow over, the policy, he said, has been a setback for the spirit of shared governance that had slowly been improving in the five years since the university's Board of Trustees abolished tenure and placed all faculty members on one-year contracts.
Administrators did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.
— Paula Wasley
Chronicle of Higher Education
2007-10-10
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