By Ren Angelo Elevera(Vol. XXVI No. 3, Editorial Cartoon)
The posted announcement said that starting June 16, wearing of short pants, rubber slippers, sando shirts and tattered pants inside the school premises is no longer allowed.
On June 16, the policies indeed took effect in full swing. While the “No ID, No Entry” policy was easily defined, the proper dressing policy or wearing decent attires inside the university puzzled some female Norsunians who did not gain entry on the second day of the implementation. On June 17, the dressing policy was redefined as it prohibits students, especially females, to wear sandals, knee-level pedals and sleeveless blouses. The sudden change of the policy resulted to heated arguments between the affected students and the security officers, who strictly implemented the rule.
For the students, the implementation was unfair because there was no specification as to what really were the outfits required inside the university. They said that what was only prohibited in the policy, as specified on the announcement, was the wearing of short pants, rubber slippers, sando shirts and tattered pants. Some of them were confused why wearing sleeveless was already prohibited when the prohibition was not mentioned in the posted announcement. Others were also irked why wearing of sandals inside the campus was proscribed when the announcement only stated the embargo of wearing rubber slippers. The students complained that the surprise implementation was really unfair because they were not informed ahead of time. This according to them, made them missed their classes since the security department strictly implemented it.
On the other hand, the answer of the security officers to the cries of the students was just simple but satisfying ― they are simply following orders from the university president.
If we look closely to the main issue, there was definitely nothing bad in implementing the proper dressing policy in a strict way or into another level. It was created for good purposes ― to create a decent identity for Norsunians and to prepare them for their future professions. It was created to discipline them. However, for the policy to be fully embraced by the students, it must not be vague. It is very important that students completely understand the policy for them to fully adhere to it.
As of press time, the policy is not yet clarified.
Therefore, the authorities should do something about this because a vague policy may lead to inconsistency. An inconsistent policy, on the other hand, may lead to the defeat of its genuine purpose. A proper dress code should be well-defined specifically now because after all, everyone has each own definition of a “decent attire”. Everyone has his thousand reasons to argue and claim that what he or she wears is decent. Thus, before everyone else complains about it, the administration itself should define what it means by “dress code” and spell it out for students to understand; not confuse them with vague, inconsistent announcements.
Last June 12, the Security Department of Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) posted an announcement that together with the ‘No ID, No Entry’ policy, the proper dressing policy would also take effect. The posted announcement said that starting June 16, wearing of short pants, rubber slippers, sando shirts and tattered pants inside the school premises is no longer allowed.
ReplyDeleteOn June 16, the policies indeed took effect in full swing. While the “No ID, No Entry” policy was easily defined, the proper dressing policy or wearing decent attires inside the university puzzled some female Norsunians who did not gain entry on the second day of the implementation. On June 17, the dressing policy was redefined as it prohibits students, especially females, to wear sandals, knee-level pedals and sleeveless blouses. The sudden change of the policy resulted to heated arguments between the affected students and the security officers, who strictly implemented the rule.
For the students, the implementation was unfair because there was no specification as to what really were the outfits required inside the university. They said that what was only prohibited in the policy, as specified on the announcement, was the wearing of short pants, rubber slippers, sando shirts and tattered pants. Some of them were confused why wearing sleeveless was already prohibited when the prohibition was not mentioned in the posted announcement. Others were also irked why wearing of sandals inside the campus was proscribed when the announcement only stated the embargo of wearing rubber slippers. The students complained that the surprise implementation was really unfair because they were not informed ahead of time. This according to them, made them missed their classes since the security department strictly implemented it.
On the other hand, the answer of the security officers to the cries of the students was just simple but satisfying ― they are simply following orders from the university president.
If we look closely to the main issue, there was definitely nothing bad in implementing the proper dressing policy in a strict way or into another level. It was created for good purposes ― to create a decent identity for Norsunians and to prepare them for their future professions. It was created to discipline them. However, for the policy to be fully embraced by the students, it must not be vague. It is very important that students completely understand the policy for them to fully adhere to it.
As of press time, the policy is not yet clarified.
Therefore, the authorities should do something about this because a vague policy may lead to inconsistency. An inconsistent policy, on the other hand, may lead to the defeat of its genuine purpose. A proper dress code should be well-defined specifically now because after all, everyone has each own definition of a “decent attire”. Everyone has his thousand reasons to argue and claim that what he or she wears is decent. Thus, before everyone else complains about it, the administration itself should define what it means by “dress code” and spell it out for students to understand; not confuse them with vague, inconsistent announcements.
(Editorial, The NORSUnian, Vol. 26, No. 3)