September 19, 2005
On dissent and a dress code
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While Anna University's enforcement of a "dress code" has now fostered a whole new, and fiery debate on the right to legislate on students' wardrobe, another moratorium on the use of mobile phones on engineering college campuses seems to have been accepted by the students.
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"All over the country, whenever institutions of higher education have tried to impose dress codes upon its girl students, they have always had to backtrack."
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THE Anna University is under a curious kind of "morality" siege. Perhaps for the first time in its 20 and odd-year history, the girl students are in a rebellious mode, protesting against what they see as the university's unilateral and "sexist" move in imposing a "dress code".
Widely seen by a large section of the women students as "moral policing" and a "regressive and paternalistic move", Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan's September 1 edict — no wearing jeans or T-shirts/sleeveless/tight-fitting/revealing outfits and only salwar kameezes for women — in 231 engineering colleges across the State has now fostered a whole new debate on the propriety (or lack of it) of female attire and whether an institution of higher education has the right to legislate on students' wardrobe. Interestingly, another moratorium on the use of mobile phones inside the campus seems to have come down lightly on the students, most of whom agree that selective restrictions have become essential, given the disturbance caused by the gadgets inside lecture halls.
Faced with a resentment he had not anticipated, the Vice-Chancellor then clarified that there would be no "military-like strictness" in enforcing the code. To pre-empt any charges of gender bias, the VC clarified that even men students would not be allowed to wear T-shirts or jeans, an announcement which was met with ridicule by the women who argued that it was only a tokenistic concession ..
Some Reactions ...
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"At 18, you are given the right to choose your Prime Minister. How can you not know which dress to wear?" asks G. Selva, State secretary of the Students Federation of India.
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"We are only trying to ensure that students dress decently and modestly, in a way that befits our culture. A dress code will also pre-empt harassment of women students," Dr. Viswanathan counters.
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"Do you mean to say if we dress conservatively in sarees and salwar-kameezes, we will be safer? Is there any guarantee that a traditional attire will lead to fewer instances of crime against women?
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"There is no methodology whatsoever to assess the impact of cinema on society. All such attempts have remained impressionistic. Cinema often becomes a convenient punching bag."
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Interestingly, a section of girl students agrees that low-waist jeans worn under short tops can be a "distraction", but that it does not warrant a blanket ban on jeans and T-shirts.
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The "Simran jeans", (as it was called after an actress whose signature attire it was) became standard student fare only in the last five years. "It is definitely not proper campus attire and is a particularly bad example of how celluloid culture spills over into campuses,"
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Caught in a quasi-ideological web of its own making, the Anna University is now finding itself increasingly isolated on an issue which, had it been handled more sensitively, could well have earned it cheers instead of the increasingly-vociferous jeers.
Courtesy: Points from The Hindu
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