No do-rags, baggy jeans, flip-flops, big ass T-shirts that look like nightshirts. Great!
But this ban was not just about the "prison look", this ban was created to address the gay men at the college.
Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services said this:
"We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men."
Dr. Bynum said he talked the gay organization about the issue. The sad part about this is when they voted on the code, only 3 out of 27 gay men voted against it.
Interesting, so gay men have to look like Morehouse men, or whatever that means. So much for freedom of expression in college.
However, I'm curious about what was the tipping point that singled out the gay look? And how do they know about a gay look? Do they know us? Most gay men are unique and original.
Look at Derek J, stylist from The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
He is truly doing it, but by Morehouse new standards, he is violating the dress code.
And what gets me, they believe that changing the dress code, they will breed success.
Really? Child cheese.
To my gay fam, get out of Morehouse, and go to an university that will let you be you. This is a bag of refried mess.
8 comments:
You mean I have to leave my do-rag at home?
He looks over. Let him stay and fight, maybe a good lawyer would like to take this cause.
V, this had me so incensed! I wrote an eight paragraph diatribe about this on my blog on Saturday I was so upset. It is such a disgrace that a distinguished college would enact such a blatantly discriminatory policy.
The students at Moorhouse need to be given the tools to be successful in the twenty-first century, not archaic rhetoric from the the dark ages.
Many of my closest friends from college, as well as my boyfriend, would have fit into the "boxes" they want to throw out to the curb. It pains me greatly that if we had been going to Moorehouse, where I would have been in the white minority, I would have been more acceptable to the administration than many of my friends and boyfriend(who were minorties), who would have been unacceptable by the administration's standards.
It is a very sad day when colleges that were instituted to help minorities shed their bonds, begin to develop their own set of bindings to confine their students.
I'm now in love with Derek. I've never watched the show but, I'm racing home to DVR it.
I hope that men at Morehouse and elsewhere will do what will make them feel safe and accepted and that is best for their present and their future.
Having said that, I hope that significant numbers of gay men at Morehouse choose to stay and continue their fight against homophobia. I have heard that there is actually acceptance of the policy by a (the?) university-recognized gay student group there. To some, this suggests that the "T" in GLBT is being pushed aside in the discussion by the one group who, you'd think, would do otherwise.
I'm not sure. But at a time when GLBT student leaders at even the high school level are stepping up and moving discussions forward, I hope that the same thing can happen at Morehouse.
I'm so happy there are people like Derek J in the world. She makes me smile.
I know I'm opening myself up to attack here, but aside from the reference to the proverbial "gay lifestyle" I'm not too taken back by this policy.
We can discuss the benefits of having an open society where everyone is welcomed to dress however they feel, but I think from Morehouse's perspective cross-dressing is not representative of the attire they envision or expect from Morehouse. To be honest I'm kind of surprised these things were not already prohibited, the Historical Black colleges has historically a long tradition of being rigid and making its students follow things to a T.
Could there be some aspect of this that is homophobic, probably. But I don't think it's an issue about homosexuality or heterosexuality, the college clearly sought out the feedback from the college's gay student organization, which says something, ultimately I think whether or not a person's attire corresponds to the college's ethos was the main issue.
No attack, J. I see your point. I guess, I'm bothered that cross-dressing is in the same base as the prison look and style.
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