- Men need to wear suits or slacks (not jeans) and turtleneck or collared shirts; ties are optional. Loafers, dress shoes, or dress boots are acceptable, but not flip-flops; socks are required. Neatly trimmed moustaches are permissible, but other facial hair is not; hair length should not reach the shirt collar, and hair must not cover more than half of the ear.
- Women faculty members may wear dresses, skirts, blouses, dress slacks, cropped pants (no more than 4” above the ankle), but not gauchos, shorts, skorts, leggings, halter tops, or halter dresses. Clothing should be modest. Dresses/tops with straps must be covered by a blouse or jacket, and midriffs need to be covered while sitting, standing, or reaching. Low-cut clothing or excessive slits are not acceptable.
- Jeans, shorts, t-shirts, sweatpants or sweatshirts, windjammers, sheer or spandex clothing, hats, athletic jerseys or shoes, and flip-flops are not permissible for faculty members.
- Jewelry should be appropriate and in keeping with a professional image. Plugs and body piercing are not appropriate, but women may have modest ear piercing. Tattoos must be covered.
Q: Has anyone ever bumped up against a faculty dress code where you teach?
No. I teach in a public uni system. If there is a dress code, I've never seen it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would probably get fired from this place for any number of reasons listed above, should I have taken a blow to the head that made me think that teaching at ORU would be a good idea.
I taught a couple courses at a religious based uni. When a younger female prof saw me wearing a suit and tie she said, "Holy fuck! Tell me they didn't bring back the dress code. I am not wearing pantyhose again!"
ReplyDeleteCall me a provincial New Yorker, but the dress code is actually more permissive than I would have expected from a place like ORU.
ReplyDeleteI taught one course in a satellite of a college run by Ursuline nuns. I never actually met the nuns; the closest I came was the chair of the department, who was male. If they had a dress code, I never knew about it.
Yes. Public JC. Dress code: business casual or better. Jeans/denim verboten. Women can wear dresses; men can't.
ReplyDeleteI showed up in a suit my first day. Apparently this satellite campus did not get the message and it's mostly business casual.
The dress code is part of my current misery.
Hard as I find this to say, most of that doesn't seem unreasonable. I taught at a religious school for a while and there was certainly an unwritten dress code that applied to women but not men.
ReplyDeleteI find most dress codes apply more heavily to women than they do to men.
DeleteI wear jeans and a Hawaiian shirt most days. One day a Dean said to me, "Do you ever tuck your shirt in," to which I replied, "But then you wouldn't have the chance to see my bare midriff."
ReplyDeleteI still have my job. THANK GOODNESS!
I've never been told of a dress code, and I come close to this one, except that with my dress slacks and blazers, I wear women's cut graphic tees with scifi and video game pictures (I'm known as the professor with the Mario shirts). I may have also just gotten my eyebrow pierced. So far, either nobody's noticed, nobody cares, or nobody's saying anything.
ReplyDeleteSure, this policy doesn't seem bad until you learn that the dress code is for their online instructors.
ReplyDeleteWe have the exact same dress code at my private, secular, fairly-progressive high school:
ReplyDelete1. Dress professionally.
2. Don't be immodest.
I see nothing unusual or unreasonable about it. I'm at work, not hanging out with friends. Professionalism, not self-expression, is the point. Maybe this post is a reminder of how much autonomy professors tend to have versus people in other professions? I'm definitely a little more casual when I adjunct.
By the way, I'm not at all gung-ho about my work clothes. They are appropriate: not frumpy, but not exciting. I change out of them at the first opportunity. Left to my 'druthers, I would have 7 pairs of jeans, 7 t-shirts, and one pair of flip-flops to my name.
ReplyDeleteI hate shopping and never understood women who shop for recreation. (So much wasted time that could be spent reading or enjoying the outdoors!)
I also resent that fashion tends to be more expensive for women. And more complicated and labor-intensive for non-fashionistas such as myself (though I do see the point that women's dress codes are more flexible than mens').
My school keeps mulling over requiring uniforms for the students. I keep advocating for a faculty uniform: scrubs. Perhaps an assigned color for each discipline?
One of my job interviews was for a Military Academy. I was told that if I were to work there I'd have to part with my beard. And that the dress code was actually a military uniform. They would throw a commission as a hiring bonus, thou.
ReplyDeleteI ran away so fast...
Big mistake. A man in uniform who speaks French? Sacre bleu!
DeleteWhile we don't have anything like a stated dress code -- as evidenced by the vast array of unprofessional dress sported by my colleagues in other departments -- History is a notoriously traditional discipline, at least where fashion is concerned. I may be a touch more rigid than my colleagues, but pantsuit/skirt&dress top for women and jacket and/or tie for men are very consistently maintained, at least on class days.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Surly Temple. This is just a reasonable, professional dress code. The fact that in most places we're allowed to dress however we damn well please and fuck looking professional, is an aberration.
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of sympathy with my brother, who says that if we want to be taken seriously as professionals, we should dress that way. Not enough for me to come to work in a jacket, or avoid jeans, but I don't wear T-shirts unless the Science Club has given it to me, and then only rarely.
"...an [historical] aberration..." is what I meant to say. Until relatively recently, professors were expected to dress like any other professional.
DeleteThat said, standards of professional dress aren't what they were in the '40s, but neither are ORU's dress code standards straight out of the '40s. Nor even what we right now expect in courts of law.
Those of you who see this example as "perfectly reasonable" seem to be missing some of the fine details.
ReplyDeleteMen can have mustaches only... NO OTHER FACIAL HAIR! No beards, goatees, van dykes, et cetera. Really? In 2012? You see this as acceptable in the workplace? For a religious U, it makes sense...but elsewhere? Men can't have hair longer than their collar? Yeah, those damn hippies are so unprofessional!
Likewise, "women may have modest ear piercing"... but not men. Really? In 2012? It's still sooooooooo unusual to see men with earrings. So, so, so rare. NOT.
And women wearing dresses or blouses with straps must have their shoulders covered? Oh my stars and garters! Those bare shoulders might inflame the males in the classroom! Frankly, I am shocked there's no stipulation requiring brassieres and other foundation garments. Break out those girdles, girls! That'll keep that midriff in check.
And I am not going to touch the "no jeans" garbage. As if all jeans are ripped, tattered dungarees circa 1955.
And no t-shirts? Again, as if there aren't dressier t-shirts that aren't cheap, logo-filled, decal-laden concert Ts.
I mean, hey, as a general overview, I agree some people should see that list as a decent template, but the devil is literally in the details. These guidelines have ignored the advance of fashion past 1955.
Just cover those damn tattoos, you dirty skank! And NO flip-flops! (Although, women wearing sandals must be just fine and dandy.)
There is a point to this - the students should be focussing on the content and not the deliverer of the content. That's the reason some schools gave for having the professors wearing gowns. I must admit we once had a woman give a lecture during a faculty search wearing a halter top and high-heels that went clickety-clack the entire time. I was driven insane by the sound, and my colleagues couldn't remember what she said, their minds were apparently elsewhere. Surly Temple's dress code should be enough, however, without getting into details.
ReplyDelete"These guidelines have ignored the advance of fashion past 1955."
ReplyDeleteSure, long hair, piercings, tats, and flip-flops are fashionable among young people now, but *workplace* fashion hasn't really changed all that much since 1955, even though it's become a bit more casual. Unless you're in a creative profession, you'll likely have to cover your tats and remove your piercings when you go to the office. I love that academia is a bit more casual, but I still don't find anything oppressive about the ORU rules.
We have a no-t-shirt rule, too, but that does not include women's logo-free tops. The flip-flop vs. sandal issue is one of judgement. There's a pretty obvious line between a women's summer dress shoe and what we mean when we say "flip-flop."
And lots of professions prohibit facial hair. If you work in a lab or certain manufacturing plants, there are safety rules that prohibit it. When I worked as an EMT, you weren't allowed facial hair, visible tats, or any piercings at all. That was all so that you didn't scare the s**t out of your often-elderly patients. You may notice that most EMTs are elaborately tatted and thoroughly hole-punched, but nobody had a problem with the rule.
So again, we're lucky that we have more leeway in the area of workplace fashion, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
The worst was an orthodox Jewish place that required all women to adopt their misogynist standards. I had to cover up my arms down to my wrists but I also had to wear shirts that cover my collar bone. Not up to my collar bone like a tshirt, but OVER it. Like turtle neck shirts.
ReplyDeleteIn summer.
Without air conditioning.
It was terrible. Good money though.
Oh, and the boys? Just had to wear slacks and collars. Could be short sleeves. Could be jeans. Yeah, that's no an undue burden on women.
In the end, the school openly stated that they would rather we looked like we were wearing mismatched clothing (just layers on layers) and appear to be in pajamas than to look professional but show some elbow.
DeleteDeleted and reposted from above ...
ReplyDeleteMy problem with this is not dress codes in general, but how asymmetrical this policy is across sex. At a religious university in particular, it's not surprising to see a modesty code (and that doesn't bother me), but that particular moral stricture is directed completely toward women. Men = no facial hair. Women = covering up so that men don't lust after them. I'm sure that if you asked, they'd say earnestly that it's important for men not to "inflame" or "entice" women too, at least in theory. But despite that--you can always tell what really matters by looking at the policy's wording.
I don't see the difference; there doesn't appear to be any asymmetry in the dress code.
ReplyDeletePants, not shorts: both sexes. Women get to wear their pants shorter than men.
Shoes, not flip-flops: both sexes. "No flip-flops" is specified for men but not for women. (It also appears under the general guidelines.)
No exposed armpits or shoulders: both sexes. No T-shirts or spandex or other pseudo-athletic wear: both sexes.
There's no specific comment about modesty directed at males, but there probably would if men were still given to wearing their shirts open to the waist.
My favorite example of an asymmetric dress code appeared in Parade magazine (or was it USA Weekend?). It was a group picture of the "hottest young stars."
The men were all wearing long pants, shoes, and long-sleeved shirts buttoned to the neck.
The women? Tiny little dresses that left nothing to the imagination except the details of their genitalia.
Who's surprised that ORU has a dress code?
ReplyDeleteOnce a dean at my CC complained that some faculty weren't dressing appropriately (in business attire). I replied that I was a geologist so "professional" for me included work boots, jeans, and a flannel shirt. Oh course, I have tenure.
Damn straight. In our department, the "field work" types all wear shorts, sandals/hiking boots, plaid flannel shirts rolled up to the elbows, whatever it is we actually wear when we're out collecting data. The "lab work" types all wear white or light blue button down shirts, khaki or navy blue trousers, and black or dark brown soft leather shoes. One guy wears his running gear all the time.
DeleteI don't see a problem with this. I'm no holy-roller, but I think workplaces in general have gotten far too casual. I cringe when I see someone at work wearing a ratty shirt and torn jeans. I sometimes wear jeans, but they are always in good condition with no rips or frays and ALWAYS wear a collared shirt either a button up or polo. To me it just shows a general sense of disrespect to not bother to dress professionally.
ReplyDelete