It seems that the dress code in most private engineering colleges across the State – that specify what kind of attire and hairstyles that the students need to adhere to while on the campuses -- may not have the sanction of the university governing them, the Anna University.
The dress code is enforced at all costs such that students and even guests are asked to leave if they are found in “improper” attire. It is common knowledge that formals and demure clothing alone are considered acceptable, with denims, tee-shirts, corduroys and sleeveless clothing among the couture casualties. Such is the zeal with which the code is implemented that only recently a chief guest to a private engineering college who was to deliver a speech on entrepreneurship was reportedly asked to leave. Reason, he was clad in denims, which did not gel with the regulations of the college.
A senior academician at the Anna University said on condition of anonymity that the varsity had no connection whatsoever with regard to the framing of the dress codes for private engineering colleges. He added, “It (framing of the dress code) is left to the freedom of the institutions. The varsity has no role to play in it.”
NSS Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Media Sciences at the Anna University, Dr S Arulchelvan, said that neither students nor teachers had the need to abide by a dress code while on the campus. “So long as their dresses are decent, we have no qualms.”
A teacher from Sri Vivekananda College of Engineering and Technology stated that even teachers were not exempted, with men and women needing to be in formals and saris respectively. Although not critical of the code for teachers, he questioned the need by pointing out that even the IITs did not have a fixed dress code in place.
As a lecturer at the Jaya College of Engineering put it, even a minor exception to the dress code can attract penalties. For instance, the failure to flaunt one’s identity card within the campus can attract a penalty of a minimum of `250. He added that a similar regulation was in place in most of the engineering colleges.