By Zikora Ibeh
The dress-code rolled out by the authorities of the University of Benin for students is not only outrageous but tainted with negative stereotypes of what should consist of good dressing or not.
I see people approving of the university’s directives with an argument like ‘the school is a learning ground and not a fashion house’. This argument is deeply flawed because as time and modern exploits have shown over and over again, dressing has little or no impact on intellectuality, creativity, or morality.
Asides from the fact that dressing is a legitimate form of self-expression, universities thrive not only as learning institutions but also as melting pots for students to harness their individualities, discover unique self-expression, pursue and acquire the art of critical thinking.
The dress code set out by UNIBEN outlaws colorful hairdo, chains, chain belts, long braids, shorts, earrings for guys, dreadlocks, body-hugs, and other ‘unlawful’ outfits and accessories. Pray, tell me, how does any of the aforementioned outlawed clothing or accessory bear influence on a student’s academic performance or the University’s mandate to improve the quality of its learning environment?
Ninety-nine per cent of the time, dress-codes in Nigerian universities are based on sexist parameters, subjective cultural and religious biases that defeat the whole idea of the university as a pluralistic environment. The idea of a dress-code is mostly rooted in the need for school authorities to entrench conformity and stamp biases.
While engineering conformity in higher-institutions can be cute sometimes, it is a dangerous trend in the long run that defeats originality in students. This is because conformity in the context of dressing doesn’t only concern bodies, hairstyles, and faces, it also seeps into life choices even as it is likely to encourage an intolerance that disrespects individual differences or autonomy. It is the reason why at the end of the day, a great number of Nigerian universities churn out robots as graduates.- Individuals who perpetually conform to societal expectations of them whether valid or not because they are too afraid to be different.- Undergraduates who are too timid to engage their lecturers – Employees who are too afraid to rock the boat at work with views that set them at opposite lanes with the boss.- Citizens who will ‘rankadede’ to thieving politicians forever. – People who readily take to fanaticism – aspiring Hisbah Police recruits.
Of course, we understand that there will be instances to regulate extremities that come across as overreaching. We don’t want students walking around showing us unflashy butt cracks and breast buttons. In this vein, university authorities can show good sense by developing fair and objective boundaries that speak to extremities rather than directives dripping of subjective prejudices.
Ibeh, a human rights activist, writes from Lagos