UNITED STATES - MARCH 10: White Hall historic building, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
Tuskegee University has a new dress code that bans bonnets and durags, and the move has sparked an online debate. The dress code is part of a new policy banning sleepwear at the college outside of dorms.
Tuskegee President Dr. Mark A. Brown noted the new dress code in a memo to new students’ parents, per HBCU Game Day.
The memo noted that students aren’t allowed to wear revealing clothing in official university settings, including classrooms, dining spaces, Convocation, or the cafeteria. Additionally, the university banned students from wearing sleepwear outside of the residence halls.
“Dress standards at Tuskegee University require that students are dressed in good taste at all times,” reads the Tuskegee Student Handbook. “Students are not permitted to wear sleepwear outside of the residence halls. Men are not permitted to wear headwear that includes ‘do rags’, stocking caps, bandanas, baseball caps, and/or any other head paraphernalia inside the buildings. Women are not permitted to wear baseball caps inside buildings. Men are required to wear their pants on their waists (no sagging pants) in academic facilities. Any style of dress that distracts or takes away from the teaching/learning process in the classroom will not be permitted. Students are expected to dress in a neat manner and make the appropriate selections for the time, occasion and place.”
After news of the new dress code made the rounds on social media, people weighed in on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. An online debate quickly ensued in one comment section, as some folks praised the ban while others reacted less enthusiastically.
Instagram user @shaarapickless wrote, “Im sorry, I didnt realize school was a fashion show. I came to learn. //:.”
@cl_e_o_ added, “Slippers ain never did nothin to nobody!!”
On Threads, @zakiyakyles wrote, “Kudos to Tuskegee!!!”
TikTok user @for_real_imreallyunique shared a video where she noted that many students may not take the ban too well. She said that while she understood the nee for a dress code, college costs money, and students won’t like the bonnet-and-durag portion of the ban.
“College is not free…. It ain’t free at all, and there’s gonna be a lot of students telling you ‘f*ck outta here’.”
After someone noted in the comments that enforcing the dress code may be a challenge, she joked, “I get in certain circumstances to enforce dress code no you shouldn’t be dressing like a lady of the night but do rags and bonnets is what sending a rage….I guess.”
