Tuskegee University wants its students to dress for success in the classroom and around campus. The university’s president, Dr. Mark A. Brown, emailed parents of the incoming students to outline changes to the school’s dress code and device use.
The new rule bans bonnets, durags, and slippers or bedroom shoes in classrooms, dining halls, and at official university events.
The president also announced a stricter attendance policy and in‑class cell phone rules that say that unless the teacher gives permission for devices to be used, they are to be put away during lectures.
“Tuskegee University’s new dress code isn’t just about bonnets and du-rags. It’s the latest chapter in a decades-long conversation about respectability politics, Black identity and the expectations placed on HBCU students before they even enter the workforce,” Tayler Adigun wrote in a column for Ebony Magazine on Monday.
“From not sagging our pants to opting for straightened or otherwise manipulated hairstyles, Black people have been categorically conditioned to alter our behavior based on what is deemed acceptable by white culture, even if that culture doesn't abide by those same principles itself,” Adigun continued.
Aside from a few crying foul, the response online has largely been supportive, with many emphasizing that adults could use a refresher on etiquette as well.
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