Sidebar:

I'm from Southern California. So, when I got to Morehouse, I regularly rocked a ridiculous pair of plaid green bermuda shorts. By any stretch of the imagination, I was a fashion disaster. One of my freshman brothers would clown me every chance he got over what I had on. “You should know better than to go around looking like a clown,” he would say. He always had on a suit, or at the very least a button down shirt and some nice pants. Very business like. My oh my, but he certainly loooked the part of an aspiring businessman; yes, indeed. Even dressed business casual on the weekends. However, he didn't come back second semester because he flunked out. Apparently, while my green bermies and I were in class and hunkered down in a back corner of Woodruff Library, he was developing a dysfunctional relationship with academic rigor. So, Morehouse put him on a bus, “with a candy bar and a comic book” and sent him home – fancy pants and all. I'm pretty sure I rocked my green bermudas at some point during senior week. But I had on a tie and some nice pants at graduation. My momma woulda killed me if I'd gotten my degree in shorts and flip flops. Though it did cross my mind.

I am Jeremy L. Writt (Multimedia Project Manager/English professor/sportswriter/news producer) aka Infinite Skillz (emcee/promoter) aka Morehouse graduate Class of 2000 aka Dumi's dorm/floor mate and fellow Virginian of Marcus and Corey. I list my monikers and relations as a point of illustration to say this.

I wear multiple hats and so do you Corey.

Am I less talented or less able to accomplish all that is required of me because I'm rocking a headband. Are you less brilliant while sporting those same dingy New Balances and aforementioned tattered jeans you had on when I met you?

While I agree that right or wrong, certain attire is not acceptable in a corporate climate, I must remind those that agree with Corey that Morehouse is an institution of higher learning and while it is a business, students are attendees not employees.

Morehouse can prepare students of ALL varieties for a corporate climate without a dress code. I remember being warned not to get too attached to seeing so many motivated people that looked like me because I'd probably be one of few in my eventual place of employment. Why can't they simply do the same when it comes to wardrobe? A simple, “Your baggy jeans (or your pastel capris if you prefer) are ok now, but certain corporate climates simply won't allow it” would do just fine without the stench of reactionary window dressing this dress code business smells of.

The college to corporate World analogy proves to be more problematic when you realize that in a business setting, the boss sets the tone because he is paying you to be there. Morehouse is providing a service for which it is handsomely compensated. Students pay to go there so they in essence are doing the hiring. I'm not saying the students should be running the school but the school certainly shouldn't be controlling trivial issues like this.

Educate the mind, body, and soul like you have been doing Morehouse and let these boys dress how they want to until their finances or circumstances dictate otherwise.

First, let me say that I am a Morehouse alumnus and a member of the United States Army. I mention that because it may color my opinion of the use for and value of uniformity. I am also a man who grew up around but not necessarily in the “hood.” So, that my color my opinion of the use for and value of individuality. I can understand where their minds were when the administration brought this to the table. Dress the part, feel the part, act the part and all that jazz. But I find that idea and its use in this instance both unecessary and insulting.

If there is one thing the successful black man has had to do it's adapt to his environment. We (if I may be so bold as to lump myself in with successful black men) have had to be whtever the situation called for and often fulfill several roles simultaneously. In order to get the same things as his white counterpart, he often has to be not as good as but better. So, after all that, to basically be told that it matters what I wear at my own school…in my own house…is pretty insulting…. Read More

Besides that, part of the beauty of being who you are is that nobody else is quite like you. Taking that away is pretty significant and must be done for a darn good reason. In the military, it's done so that the overall mission can be broken down into it's smaller parts and those parts can be delegated out among all the Soldiers so that it may be accomplished. In a situation like that, each agent must behave predictably in order to achieve a predictable result. Any free agents or radicals in the mix cause the kind of confusion that can cost lives. To me, that's a pretty good reason to force uniformity and in so doing minimize individuality. Morehouse doesn't have such a reason in my opinion and instituting such a rule is unecessary.

That's my two cents…for whatever it's worth (approximately two cents I'd say).

Marcus Adisa Tyler
Class of 2001

Distractions are real on all fronts, you learn to deal with them. When that bluebook gets set in front of you, it's time to hunker down. In a sense, morehouse is the zone with the least distractions on average for black male college students, do we need to infantilize them by saying “we'll make sure this is perfectly sterile so you can get your work done?” I think your right, we need to get at the illness, not the symptoms. You clearly were digging for answers when you were there and adjusted behaviors on what you found, why do we (the collective morehouse we) suspect these brothas on campus aren't capable of the same? I've talked to professors and admin currently on campus and they suggest they students can, what does it mean for us to publically read this brothas as incapable of code-switching? You are right, what you wear makes a statement, whether in dockers or a dress and it behoves us to think deeply about it. I remember that the word bitch was “washed” from my vocabulary at a Freshman Orientation speech by Larry Crawford who talked about a marriage proposal and said, “Bitch will you marry me?” At that moment we all laughed, he said, “As outrageous as that sounds, that's how you sound when all the words out your mouth are bitch and nigga.” It was a lesson that didn't tell me, “no use of bitch” it was a lesson of discovery, how do we create the opportunities for discovery and in depth learning?
Lastly, thanks so much bro … and I owe you like mad emails …. my bad, congrats!!!!

I would challenge that to say that Morehouse is a meritocracy where one is judged by the diligence of their work and their commitment to the goals set before them should be the true barometer of success.

So I support the dress code as a leveling mechanism from whence, students will be judged on their merits and not their appearance. The game has indeed changed, but being discerning in admission practice as well as on campus behavior isn't a step back as much as it is a move to prepare these students for real life.

I've spent the majority of the last ten years working my way through corporate America and I've seen the success and the failings of African Americans based on merit as well as perception. That said, I've worked with many an African American male who has expressed or purported himself in a manner not just unbecoming professionally , but outright dumb. All under the guise of “just being me”.

No, you see, just being you is something you do when you don't want a job and are content to live as a marginalized individual or withering away doddling your ruminations in academia. For the rest of us, we need to get a head just to get ahead and may be the first in our family to not have to work for an hourly wage or live check to check.

I say all that to say this. There is a prevailing standard that exists in America and, in order to make the students ready for the meritocracy of the real world, then the bonds of the misconception that somehow the world is going to come to them may be relieved somehow.

Spelman and others didn't diminish the role of black men in America, WE DID. WE embraced this notion of hypermasculinity that manifests itself in hip hop music and bleeds into our attire. We embraced the concept of “keeping it real” when that notion is farcical when you're at an institution of higher learning. WE failed to meet the prevailing standards of what is and is not acceptable as a minority when dealing with the majority and aired our dirty laundry on MTV, BET, and whatever other entertainment outlet would accept our minstrelsy.

I don't care about self expression when you go to class. THAT'S YOUR JOB… Just like my job doesn't give a fuck about my self expression. You want to sag your pants, wear a doo rag, or dress like Liz Taylor, that's fine, just don't do it when you're going to class or when you're in a venue that is representative of the college.

I could go on, but my rational thoughts are going to be lost in a sea of liberal hippiespeak that looks to rationalize the foolish and demonize the mainstream as some kind of repressive entity when, in actuality, its the game that the majority of us have to play.

Corey Richardson, Morehouse '00.

“The mission of Morehouse College is to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service. A private historically black liberal arts college for men, Morehouse realizes this mission by emphasizing the intellectual and character development of its students. In addition, the College assumes special responsibility for teaching the history and culture of black people…”

How do you “develop men” if you don't teach these 17 & 18yr old boys how to survive in TODAY'S brutal world? According to the US Marine Corps, instilling discipline in soldiers results in their “ability to do the right thing even when no one is watching” – however we know that in the Marines, this is accomplished through the use of PAIN. From my understanding, Morehouse college does not seek to instill pain on any one of its students. As such, the disciplined mind spoken of in the College's mission is not of the variety that comes from oppression, hazing and pain, like the military does.

No one can lead if they don't develop strong character and knowledge of self. Knowledge of self and character cannot be developed in an environment where self-expression, sexual identity, perception of self, social mental health, social responsibility (need I continue??) are all repressed, trivialized and relegated to 'off campus' activity. These are teenage boys blossoming into men. The current and future students of Morehouse College need their institution to step it up a notch. Lest Morehouse become the scholastic fodder we've come to expect from present day HBCU's. At the end of the day, there is a need for all HBCUs. That need simply demands that they abide by their mission statements, their mission to act as historian for Black people, and cultivator/curator for Black civics and culture.

you are promoting the demise of great HBCUs such as Morehouse, by suggesting that they further distance themselves from the needs of their people in the interest of a romanticized idealism of what it means to be Black. Please stop – our institutions deserve more, and our students are suffering.

Into ties more brotherly,
Ziavan
Morehouse '09