At Illinois State University, it’s easy to spot the marketing students.
In a sea of flip-flops, sweat pants and short shorts, they’re the ones walking through the College of Business in collared shirts, pressed pants and shiny dress shoes. And many of them are not happy about it.
Beginning this fall, marketing students are required to attend class in business casual attire or risk getting a zero on any work submitted that day. The students, who are preparing for careers in the buttoned-down business world, have complained the dress code is a hassle, at best, and a violation of their student rights, at worst.
Student government leaders have taken the complaints to the university president and other top administrators, arguing the new policy violates the Student Bill of Rights, which states students have “the right to be free from any mandatory dress code.”
The code bans jeans, cargo pants, shorts and even leggings, one of fall’s hipper fashion trends.
Marketing chair Tim Longfellow said faculty members were unaware of the Student Bill of Rights when they wrote the new guidelines, and they’ve been caught off guard by the backlash. While not official university policy, the bill of rights is to be consulted when making policy changes at Illinois State, according to student leaders.
“We knew there might be some stumbling blocks. Then things got a little bigger than we anticipated,” Longfellow said. “As marketers, we maybe should have guessed that better.”
Marketing professor Jeri Beggs used a different business reference during a 15-minute discussion of the dress code at the start of her Buyer Behavior class last week. She said it’s creating a positive image for Illinois State’s business school as a place that stresses the importance of professionalism. In business terms, she said, that’s “brand equity.”
“Our university is being known as the university that is trying to turn out professional employees,” she told the class.
But that seemed to be little consolation for students who said they would prefer to roll out of bed 15 minutes before class and be comfortable in their sweats and T-shirts. They argued they have years of dressing up to look forward to once they start their business careers.
One student said she’s worried about dry-cleaning bills. Another said marketing students feel singled out as they pass other business school majors wearing casual clothes.
“So you have clothing envy?” Beggs asked.
“I do. They don’t have to walk a mile to school in heels,” said senior Sarah Fimian of Mahomet, wearing 3-inch black heels.
The dress code is part of a larger movement toward making the business school more corporate. Soft drinks are not allowed in the 2-year-old building and posters are not allowed on the walls. Flat-screen televisions in the hallways stream business news.
An Aug. 3 letter about the dress code sent to marketing students cautioned: “Clothing that works well for the beach, yardwork, dance clubs, exercise sessions and sports contests are not appropriate for professional appearance.” It then listed examples of acceptable and unacceptable clothing.
Beggs said if students don’t dress appropriately she will deduct points from the part of their grade dedicated to professionalism. She was lenient during the first two weeks, letting one student slide for wearing shorts and flip-flops and another off the hook for wearing jeans.
“To be honest, the last thing I want to do is monitor your dress every day. But I do think, in the long run, it is good for you,” Beggs told the class. Once in the business world, she said, “If you fail to dress appropriately, if you arrive late every day, it is unlikely someone will take you aside and say, ‘I thought that top was too revealing.’ You know what happens? You don’t get the promotion. You don’t get special assignments. They are worried you will not act right.”
The student wearing shorts and flip-flops, senior Lucas Theesfeld, said he didn’t bring a business casual wardrobe to Normal. He’s planning a trip to his parents’ home in Aurora this weekend to pick up some pants.
“I don’t have any nice shoes down here. I don’t have pants here because it’s 90 degrees out,” Theesfeld said. “I didn’t think I would have to buy a nice wardrobe until I graduated.”
Senior Katie Saul of Cary, a marketing major, said she never received the Aug. 3 letter about the new policy. She showed up on the first day of class in athletic clothes and was confused about why her classmates were dressed up.
“I was startled,” she said. “I didn’t bring my work clothes to school so I had to go shopping and spend a couple hundred dollars more on clothes.”
She bought a pair of flats because she didn’t want to walk to class in high heels. “I have blisters now,” she said.
Not all students are upset by the dress code. Senior Heather Graham, dressed in 4-inch leopard heels, said it will help students prepare for their careers.
“A lot of people don’t know what business casual is. This way, everyone knows certain standards, so when you go into the work force, you’re prepared,” said Graham of Ottawa.
Senior Deandre Tillman, wearing a dress shirt and tie, said he’s now more awake in class.
“You focus more, you participate more, you don’t fall asleep in class,” he said. “There is no more rolling out of bed and going to class.”
Student leaders have been surveying students about the dress code and looking into whether proper procedures were followed in enacting it, said Allison Neville, the student government chief of staff.
“It is not really a matter of whether it is right or wrong. It violated the [Student] Bill of Rights,” Neville said. “As part of shared governance, they are supposed to consult it and take it into consideration when making decisions.”
Illinois State President Al Bowman said other academic departments, such as nursing and teaching, already have dress requirements. He said he’s glad student government leaders are voicing their concerns.
“They will learn how to exercise their rights as they work their way through the controversy,” he said.
But in the meantime, students such as Chrystal Caban, president of the campus chapter of the American Marketing Association, are finding their way through the new standards. Group members were told they can’t wear T-shirts with the association’s logo in class.
“We would have to get polos,” Caban said. The group decided to order the T-shirts anyway. “We would much rather have a more appealing T-shirt than a polo. We’ll just wear it on the weekends and outside of class.”
———–
jscohen@tribune.com
