VidYouth

Derailed were the fantasies of the students of CMEC when there came a new rule of  “No T-shirts” in the college. Banning T-shirts seems to be the most frivolous rule ever. “After spending years in school wearing uniforms, the non-uniform rule in college is an opportunity to assert our independence. Atleast college life shouldn’t impose any restrictions on clothes”, says a disappointed Atisha Mathur, a student from IT.

The rule of not wearing T-shirts is happening to be the most unwillingly accepted rule where every other student is just compelled to wear formals everyday. This engineering institute wants students to look professional and slaps a fine on anyone wearing casual wear. “T-shirts are banned both for boys and girls. We understand if they want to bar us from wearing T-shirts with cheeky messages, but I was fined for wearing a plain T-shirt,” states C. Sammat Kumar from IT.

Also the angle of comfort was highlighted by other students.

“Our college is in outskirts and so we need to travel a lot and since most of us don’t feel comfortable in formals, we should be given right to wear anything in which we feel comfortable as  students are quite sensible of not wearing party wear in college,” opines Ritu Verma , a 3rd year student of the same college. “After spending years in school wearing uniforms, It is also a way to express our individuality, and when you are spending hours stuck in a lecture, it is important to be comfortable and T-shirts provide that comfort”,  suggests Apurba Mandal of  Information Technology.

“College is the only place where we can explore new fashion trends and no one should dictate what we wear. T-shirts are the coolest option for college goers”, quips Madabhushi Vennela of 3rd year. She also adds that there are many students, who can’t afford so many clothes. Those, who have only 2-3 shirts are struggling in the mid of semester due to this rule. Nithish Bandari, a 3rd year student adds, “Formal shirts are for executives and students should look like students, not executives.”

T-shirts are extremely comfortable and fit for the long hours of college. Tees can be dressed up by accessorizing or teaming it up with a shirt or scarf, to give it a formal look. The idea of banning tees is simply baseless. Conspicuously, the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, which also seems restricted these days and with such rules springing up, students don’t even have the freedom to dress either. “A college implementing such a bizarre rule must surely have an 18th century mindset,” states Alekhya Goud from IT, 3rd year.

There seems to be a thin line between discipline and moral policing and students across CMEC college profess that their clothes reflect their individuality, which should not be suppressed. When it comes to dress code, a drive against obtrusively suggestive attires or those with cheeky messages or photographs is understandable. But T-shirts? They are innocuous, perhaps the most decent among casuals.

Guys comfi in tees, chilling out under shade in summer. Credits:Rabble Rouser

“Tees cause negative appeal by having their captions in front. Round neck tees are body attraction oriented. Dressing makes an impression so it should be impressive and shouldn’t provoke others. Also in a formal setup of college , informal wear  is highly not  justified,” quips Mrs.Usha Bala, a lecturer from CM engineering College. Authorities say they are insisting on formals to promote professionalism. What professionalism? Yes, colleges are temples of learning just as schools. But they aren’t offices, where dress codes should be enforced. And professionalism — or concentrating on studies and not dresses, if that’s what the authorities mean by the terminology – isn’t about attires, but is synonymous with dedication and hard work.

Dress codes may be justified at certain places and on particular occasions. For instance, it’s commonly perceived that in temples, people are expected to wear simple, traditional clothes so as not to divert attention of others towards glossy attires. At a condolence gathering, people wear white to respect the solemnity of the occasion. In these instances, one appreciates the moral and social gesture. However, a ban on T-shirts in colleges appears too far-fetched, even a wee-bit ludicrous in its purported mission. The thrust should be on stemming obscenity and propagating decency, not in formulating incomprehensible rules under the garb of ‘professionalism’.

Apparently, T-shirts have become strictly No-No in CMEC. The students of CMEC allege this rule is just a way of extracting extra money from them and is highly unfair. However, the students accept that for presentations and in laboratories, a neat formal attire is justified but banning the Tees in college is totally not justified.