From Deseret News archives:
Professor bans jeans and T-shirts
"A university is preparation for the real world," history professor Ryan Crisp told the Post Register. "To teach students to think and act at a professional level."
In his 200- and 300-level courses, Crisp requires his students to wear business casual: khaki pants, sweaters, skirts and collared shirts.
Students in his 400-level class must wear formal business attire — suits and ties or dresses.
A professor at Boise State University says the policy only burdens students already on tight budgets.
"It's difficult enough for students to afford their college education without requiring them to wear special clothing to class," said Lynn Lubamersky of BSU's history department. "You can learn history while wearing flip-flops, jeans, T-shirts."
BYU-Idaho, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, already has a dress code that bans shorts, facial hair, body piercings, flip-flops and sexually suggestive clothing. Students who don't adhere to the code can be suspended.
Crisp's requirements go beyond the school's dress code.
"Anyone with a university education should expect to dress appropriately," he said.
One of his students, freshman Robert Harvey, chafed at first under Crisp's dress code.
"I thought, 'This is college, they shouldn't tell us what to wear,"' he said.
But he changed his mind after wearing business casual attire to Crisp's History 306 class, and hearing Crisp's explanation of how poor students during medieval times shared cloaks to be able to attend class.
"I like it because it takes more effort," Harvey said.
That might carry over into the work world, said Steve Karstad of Idaho Commerce and Labor.
"Dressing up a little shows effort and care," Karstad said.
