Four months after the New Year, Manchester College decided that it is time to make some sartorial changes around campus. After years and years of MC students being able to wear whatever they wanted, a dress code will be mandatory for all students starting April 1, 2008. MC insists upon a prep school-style dress code that has the following accessory and style changes: short hair for men and women, no makeup or jewelry for women and no baseball caps for men. As MC’s school colors are black and gold the new uniforms will be designed with those colors in mind.

 
The female students will wear a pleated black and gold checkered kilt style skirt that falls just below the knees. Ashton Gipson, a sophomore and bio-chem major, said: “I’d rather die than look like a bumble bee in that silly new outfit that the new dress code says we have to start wearing.” Also, the females must wear knee high black stockings and black patent leather Mary Jane style shoes. For their tops, women must wear a gold button up blouse under a black sweater that has MC’s logo stitched in the middle of the sweater.

  
Lauren Freel, a junior and bio-chem major, is furious about the new dress code. “I have early science classes and I am usually up all night studying so it is easier, and makes more sense, for me to just throw on a pair of sweats in the morning before class,” she said. “Putting on multiple layers that make up the uniform will make it harder to get ready in the mornings when usually I’m ready in about ten minutes. The new dress code is definitely an upsetting and irritating new aspect of MC and I’m not sure I will get used to it. I may not even come back next year because of the new dress code.”

In regard to the accessory and style change, women may not have their hair any longer than their chin, are forbidden from wearing makeup, including any Chapstick or lip balm that has a hint of shine and may not wear any type of jewelry, even including engagement or wedding rings. Jami Schrader, a senior and biology and environmental studies major, thinks that MC needs to re-evaluate its decision because it is the most ridiculous dress code that she has ever heard of. “Why should they be the ones who tell me that I have to cut my hair to chin length?” she asked angrily. “That is absurd. The makeup rule doesn’t really bother me that much, because I hardly wear it, but I love lip balm and all of the different brands that I have usually have a hint of color or shine to them. What am I supposed to do, not wear lip balm or Chapstick and get severely dry and chapped lips, especially in the winter? I don’t think so.”

The male students have to wear black and gold plaid pants with black socks and black loafers that have a Velcro strap closure. Also, they have to wear a white button up shirt underneath a black sweater, which is exactly like the female students sweater, and cannot wear baseball caps at any time while on campus. Male students have to have a buzz cut and have no facial hair because shaggy hair and scruffy facial hair indicate unprofessionalism and that is not how MC wants to portray its male students. Jason Bendix, a sophomore and Business major, isn’t worried or complaining about the new dress code. “I look good in everything I wear,” he said. “I’m definitely not concerned about it and besides, ladies love a man in uniform.”

MC’s students are in an uproar about the new dress code, with the exception of a select few who are in favor of it, and are in disbelief that MC is forcing students to cooperate. “Whatever happened to MC being a liberal college that understood its students’ different backgrounds and cultures and took each individuals thoughts into serious consideration?” asked Freel. “We are supposed to feel welcome and comfortable with our individuality at MC and now I feel like a prisoner having to wear the exact same outfit as everybody else.”

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