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Calls for stricter dress codes on Nigerian campuses are not new. They usually come wrapped in the language of discipline, morality, and protection of academic values. But beneath the surface lies a more complex question that deserves honest engagement:
Are dress codes about maintaining order, or about imposing control where education should foster autonomy?
Universities Are for Adults, Not Children
Higher institutions are not primary or secondary schools. Students admitted into universities, polytechnics, and colleges are legally and socially recognised as adults. They can:
- vote
- marry
- work
- make legal decisions
- face adult consequences
If society trusts them with these responsibilities, why is their clothing suddenly treated as evidence of incapacity? Adulthood is not perfection, but it is autonomy. And autonomy includes personal expression, even when others disapprove.
Education Is About the Mind, not the wardrobe.
The primary purpose of a university is learning. Ideas are debated in lecture halls, not fashion. Knowledge is tested through exams, not hemlines. If academic focus is so fragile that it collapses at the sight of clothing, then the problem may lie elsewhere.
Countries with some of the world’s best universities do not obsess over student clothing, yet academic standards remain high. This raises a critical question:
Are dress codes solving a real academic problem, or distracting from deeper institutional failures?
The Slippery Slope of “Decency”
The word decency is subjective. What is considered indecent today was acceptable decades ago. What is unacceptable in one culture is normal in another. Once institutions begin policing morality through appearance, where does it stop?
- Who defines what is decent?
- Whose culture becomes the standard?
- What happens to minorities, subcultures, or dissenting identities?
When rules are vague, enforcement becomes selective, and selective enforcement breeds abuse.
Distraction Is a Personal Responsibility
The argument that indecent dressing “distracts others” raises an uncomfortable implication. People are not responsible for managing their own attention or impulses. In professional life, graduates will work alongside:
- differently dressed colleagues
- people of various cultures
- people they find attractive
The real world does not pause to accommodate personal discomfort. Universities should prepare students for reality, not shelter them from it.
Blaming Clothing for Immorality Is Convenient
Lecturer–student affairs, corruption, and exploitation did not begin with short skirts or sagging trousers.
They exist because of:
- power imbalance
- weak accountability
- poor institutional ethics
- abuse of authority
Blaming student dress for these problems risks protecting the real culprits by shifting the focus from conduct to appearance. Immorality thrives in silence, not in fabric.
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Also read: Dress Code on Campus: Freedom, Discipline, and the Limits of Tolerance
Also read: Dress Code on Campus: When Control Masquerades as Morality
The Danger of Normalising Public Shaming
Proposals to “embarrass” students at gates raise serious concerns. Public humiliation:
- Does not build character
- Does not educate
- Often radicalises rather than reforms
Institutions of learning should not adopt tactics that mirror authoritarian control or mob justice. Discipline without dignity erodes trust.
Expression Is Part of Identity Formation
University years are a period of self-discovery. Students experiment with:
- Ideas
- Beliefs
- Politics
- Identity, and
- Style
This process can be messy, uncomfortable, and imperfect, but it is necessary. Suppressing expression in the name of order risks producing conformity rather than character.
The Real Issue May Be Institutional Insecurity
When universities focus excessively on dress codes, it may signal a lack of confidence in their core mission. Strong institutions:
- Enforce academic integrity
- Punish harassment and abuse
- Reward excellence
- Protect students from real harm
Weak institutions often choose visible control over substantive reform, because it is easier to police clothing than to fix systems.
Freedom Includes the Right to Be Wrong
Freedom does not mean approval. Students have the right to dress poorly, just as others have the right to judge them socially, but not institutionally. Learning consequences is part of adulthood. Shielding students from social feedback while punishing them administratively creates confusion, not maturity.
Dress codes may feel comforting in a society anxious about moral decline. But universities should be careful not to confuse education with control, or discipline with conformity. The goal of higher education is not to manufacture obedience, but to cultivate judgment. And judgment cannot be taught through hemlines.
Should universities regulate how adults dress, or should they focus strictly on learning, conduct, and accountability?
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Should universities regulate how adults dress, or should they focus only on learning and conduct?
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