QU issues new dress code for students

DOHA: In a fresh move to restrict inappropriate dressing on campus, Qatar University (QU) has issued a new dress code and etiquettes for students, triggering a mixed reaction from the students.

The new code, apart from forbidding tight and obscene dresses, also bans sweat pants, bermuda shorts and leggings from the campus.

“Fad hair styles including unnatural colouring of hair, dreadlocks, or unconventional cuts are not permitted,” an e-mail sent by the university to all students on the weekend says.

Students have also been advised to use perfumes and make-up with ‘restraint’ and in ‘good taste’.

The Arabic version of the instructions prohibits students from wearing abayas that are tight or transparent.

Many students, who were surprised to receive the instructions during the weekend before classes for the Fall 2012 start, are asking why the Arabic version is different from the English and why boys have not received similar instructions.

The new rules have infuriated foreign students who did not receive any prior notice about the dress code before coming to Qatar.

“The sections dealing with unnatural hair, tattoos, make-up, and perfume are absurd. All of those things seem to be done not for modesty’s sake, but rather to enforce uniformity among students. The individuality of students must be celebrated on campus rather than be suppressed,” said Maria Hardman, an American citizen who came to QU to study Masters in Gulf Studies.

While Hardman supports calls for modesty on campus, she argues that the new code goes beyond that and tries to enforce ‘conformism’.

Although a section of students are calling the new dress code unfair and ‘unnecessarily restrictive’, the move has been welcomed by others who, in fact, have been demanding the enforcement of these guidelines since the previous semester.

“This didn’t come as a surprise to me. Many students have been asking for a strict dress code, especially for Qatari girls,” a student from the Collage of Arts and Science, who didn’t want to be identified, said.

She said that as some girls are “dressed up like they have come to the Oscars, you can’t help but be distracted”.

“I can understand the restrictions on leggings because girls wear tight leggings with short tops. And some of those who wear abayas have their fronts open,” she said, pointing out that one has to visit the campus to see what’s going on.

But the new rule has caused anxiety among students who fear that more such restrictions in other areas could be in the offing.

“If the university is willing to stifle individuality in personal appearance and dressing, will they impose similar restrictions on the types of research you can do and the creativity of students? Will certain subjects-themes-topics be banned due to their inappropriateness?” Hardman asks.

THE PENINSULA

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