Dress code in Nigerian universities
THE decision by the Senate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to prescribe a dress code for students is both timely and commendable. The university said it wants to ensure that "students maintain a clean and decent appearance in all settings on campus." UNILAG's decision has brought into the public domain the problem of indecent dressing, immorality and social decadence stifling the efflorescence of academic excellence in the nation's tertiary institutions.
As the UNILAG Senate asserts, "indecent modes of dressing do not reflect the seriousness, dignity and character-moulding nature of the academic enterprise." In view of the pivotal role universities play in the attainment of the nation's developmental goals, the public, not surprisingly, has responded positively to the initiative by the authorities of the University of Lagos.
Eminent Nigerians like the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr Sunday Mbang, the first military governor of Lagos State, Brig-Gen Mobolaji Johnson (rtd), among others have thrown their moral weight behind the decision. In fact, Brig-Gen. Johnson avers that the introduction of the dress code would help avert the total collapse of the moral fibre of our tertiary institutions. We also see merit in the UNILAG Senate decision, and hope that all other institutions of higher learning in the country would adopt similar measures.
The problem of indecent dressing has bedevilled the campuses of our nation's universities for some time now. A visitor to any of our university campuses will be assaulted by live images of students whose dress culture literally competes with the worst images of "X" rated movies from cheap studios in Hollywood. The students, especially the females, dress in such a way as to leave nothing else to the observer's imagination.
Going by such weird and esoteric names as spaghetti tops, wicked straps, mono straps, tubes, show me your belly, etc., these clothes distract the attention of all stakeholders " lecturers, students, and administrators " in our tertiary institutions. The University of Lagos has banned its male and female students from wearing any of these clothes on campus. It also considers as inappropriate dressing, the wearing of tight, strapless, revealing clothes or clothes which length is above the knees. It forbids its students from putting on party wear, beachwear, bathroom slippers, jeans and T-shirts, which carry obscene and subliminal messages to lectures.
These clothes debase the self-worthiness and self-esteem of the wearers, and offend the moral, ethical and religious sensibilities of the campus community. They are not in conformity with the acceptable standards of decorum expected in the hallowed corridors of the academia.
The students who wear these indecent clothes are themselves distracted from their academic pursuits, which negate the reasons why they are in the university in the first place. The clothes dominate their attention and self-awareness; the attention they attract to themselves keeps them permanently on edge. Deliberately or inadvertently, they either set themselves up as potential rape victims, objects of male lasciviousness, or worse.
They run the risk of being perceived and approached as prostitutes by dandy male Casanova who invade campuses every evening in search of fun. They also attract the attention of many of the cult groups on campus. In short those who wear these clothes appear to derive no benefit whatsoever, except perhaps, a warped sense of esteem based on an inelegant and primitive understanding of the tenets of freedom of expression. Yet, indecency is not synonymous with freedom of expression; it is simply indecent.
In spelling out in specific terms what clothes its students should or should not wear, the University of Lagos has set appropriate standards worthy of emulation by all other tertiary institutions in the country. Its implementation strategy, involving the incorporation of the approved dress code in the Students� Handbook and the Orientation Programme for freshmen, publicity in all the news bulletins on campus, sensitisation of parents, exclusion of students from lectures and other services, counselling and endorsement of records of violators, is also commendable.
The sensitisation of parents is important because some parents provide the clothes or the money to buy the clothes to their wards and do not in fact see anything wrong in the mode of dressing. Like such parents, there are others in the society who believe that the so-called indecent dressing on campuses is a reflection of the moral and social decadence in the country and should therefore not be treated in isolation.
We, however, think that arguments such as these are spurious and escapist; and merely beg the question. Universities are expected to be oases of sanity in a desert of moral and social decadence. Universities are role models and pacesetters to the rest of society; they are established not only to advance the frontiers of knowledge but also to mould the character of their students. Universities are expected to be at the forefront of any crusade for the moral and intellectual regeneration of society. This is the norm throughout the world, and this is why universities enjoy academic freedom. The University of Lagos has taken a laudable step in the moral regeneration of the society. We commend it to all other institutions of higher learning in the country.
