Choosing to dress for important events/days is a more affordable approach for students as professional attire is expensive and also allows the students more time to learn about how they like to dress as most have now left their parental homes and are becoming adults with more freedom and choice about their personal style.

I attended a university that had 24/7 dining. If you wanted to get something to eat at 3 am and you went in with pj’s that fully covered you and a bonnet, no one cared how you looked. During the day during school business hours? I highly suggest not showing up in your pj’s because you’re going to look out of place while others are in various different versions of outside clothing.

Is there a group of individuals that will go outside and not care how they look and will wear pj’s and a bonnet anytime of the day while sitting at a restaurant? Yes. Some people don’t care about looking “out of place.”

Are those people predominately Black? No. It’s a mixture of race, cultures, etc. And there is nothing wrong with people wanting to be themselves. 

I personally, believe that this is a class norm. A class norm is a shared agreement for behavior and communication between the members of such class. The class of people that typically attend universities and colleges have all mostly agreed that they do not go out in public in their nighttime/house clothes. That is not the norm for them. They want to do business with someone that puts more effort into how they look because they feel as though that hard work and effort shows up in other places as well.

One of the components to be accepted into a socioeconomic class system is to follow social behavior.

At this present time, the argument is that the social behavior that is currently being accepted for the socioeconomic class system that graduates want to be in is rooted in whiteness and anti-blackness. Which is true for many things, but the Black community also has their own acceptable behavior for various class systems and social spaces. Black grads in a higher financial class system are not going to restaurants wearing a traditional bonnet. They believe that this behavior is done by people of a “lower-class” system.

I firmly believe this will always be an argument for many and there won’t ever be a “solution” because all of it is based on preference, class system desires, and social expectations within various human-created class systems. For any of these debates to end there would first need to be an end to class systems and for all to consider each other on the same level and accept our unique differences and fashion styles.

Most HBCU’s say they are the “illustrious” [University/College name]. I think it suggests that most universities and colleges want to be considered a place of learning for the prestige. Which is why everyone should not be surprised that a private university wants their students to “dress the part” 24/7 while attending school as they are an extension and representation of the brand of the university.  

The university’s website describes its legacy as:

The Legacy of Tuskegee University is extraordinary. Tuskegee University began humbly in a one-room shanty in rural Alabama on the grounds of Butler Chapel AME Zion Church. Yet through the vision of Lewis Adams and George Campbell, perseverance, and the transformative leadership of its Founding Principal, Booker T. Washington, it rose to become a nationally recognized institution of higher learning.

Within their mission they say:

In addition, the University’s programs focus on nurturing the development of high-order intellectual and moral qualities among students and stress the connection between education and the highly trained leadership Americans need in general, especially for the work force of the 21st Century and beyond. 

There is nothing surprising for a university founded in a Protestant church to follow the same strategy of the women in Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham’s book to counter racist stereotypes of African Americans and prove their humanity and demand civil rights through demonstrating morality, having an education, cleanliness and following a strict dress code.  

Once again, we are reminded that “there is no one way to be “authentically” African American.” It seems as though Tuskegee University wants their students to be successful by following a certain standard and that includes a particular dress code that they believe will lead to the success of their students.

Is it respectability politics?

I firmly believe that it is.

• It enforces a dominant culture. One that has been predominantly known by Black individuals in a higher financial class system.
• The dress code erases culture differences and how individuals express themselves. It makes me question whether head scarves would be accepted if bonnets are banned.
• It is ignoring the struggles of their students. Dress codes such as this do not consider students coming from lower- and middle-class backgrounds. As a Black woman I know how expensive it is to keep your hair done. Not everyone has the abilities and talent to do their own hair. I’ve personally seen women who wear bonnets outside while having a bad hair day because they feel more comfortable covering it up over wearing it out. In my social class, Black women aren’t allowed to have a bad hair day they need to always have their hair done and not covered and that can be exhausting and expensive for those in a certain economic class.
• It overlooks intersectionality by not taking in consideration different identities and how this creates an unequal burden for some as the dress code is a universal rule. The students are not all affected equally by the dress code.

Regardless of societal expectations, I believe that what everyone is failing to do is educating the future students and letting them know that we live in a world that you can study and become extremely intelligent, you can have morals and become a good person, you can be clean and follow an expected dress code while also still experiencing discrimination and not being as successful as you should be due to the color of your skin. Nothing can help you if the person who has the power to give you opportunity and success hates the color of your skin and believes that people who possess said color of skin have no humanity.

You should still ignore all of that and continue to strive to be the best version of yourself.

To wrap things up, if you are a Black student searching for a way to learn and become successful while also staying true to who you are, especially if it is not the norm of the society you are entering into, I highly suggest you search for a school that understands this and will nurture it and give you advice on how to maneuver through life knowing societal expectations and your personal desires.

I hope Tuskegee University offers this to their students regardless of their dress code.

You need a school that will remind you to be realistic, but also strive for what you want.

You can’t interview for a job in a traditional bonnet, but you could start your own business and make bonnets be acceptable in your dress code. You can become a famous artist and wear whatever you want.

How you hold yourself in spaces when you aren’t seeking opportunity in can still land your many opportunities by simply existing and being noticed. Someone noticing you for a job will always be based on what they are looking for. Dress the part. 

To any young readers entering into their early years of undergrad, I hope you find somewhere or even create a space where you can authentically be yourself in this life and accomplish the goals you have set for yourself.

A great mind is just that. A great mind is still a great mind regardless of how you dress it up.