Tuskegee Students Say the Dress Code Debate Misses the Real Issues

Payton Arentt didn’t give an extra thought to an email from the Tuskegee University administration announcing a dress code and cellphone policy — but she did wonder why people weren’t talking more about the radio silence around financial aid and housing.

As a rising senior, Arentt said there’s always been an understanding on campus about not wearing pajamas, bonnets, and durags in public spaces. She remembers that when she was a freshman, upperclassmen told her and others about the unwritten rules for on-campus etiquette. Now, she’s making sure she’s passing that on to her mentees. 

She and other students at the historically Black college in Alabama say there are more pressing issues than “professionalism.”

“I can tell you all that you don’t see a Tuskegee student walk around in bonnets and durags regularly,” Arentt told Capital B. “That’s not something that we do. That has never been something we’ve done.” 

Students argue that they have already met professionalism expectations long before this new policy. Arnett said the timing of the email was odd. Throughout the summer, students had been emailing the university administrators about housing assignments and received no responses. They noted that they had to enter a housing lottery, in which they are chosen at random for a spot in on-campus housing. Upperclassmen who aren’t selected are at risk of being moved 20 to 30 minutes off campus.

Capital B reached out to Tuskegee University regarding housing assignments and other issues students raised but did not receive a response by publication.

The policy announcements arrive as the university prepares to welcome its largest incoming freshman class in 32 years this fall. In the notice sent to parents of incoming students, university President Mark A. Brown said the changes are part of a broader “transformation and renewal” effort to prepare students for success and the workforce. 

Tuskegee, like other HBCUs, is also caught in a housing crunch, a long-standing problem that has intensified as enrollment has increased. Interest in top-rated HBCUs has risen nearly 30% or more in recent years.

Some observers have noted a trickle-down effect. Along with dress codes, Tuskegee’s new campus policy removes a 10-minute grace period for arriving late to classes. Arnett said it’s ironic since more upper-level students are pushed farther out into surrounding cities like Auburn, Alabama, which is 20 miles north of the campus. After three latenesses, it’ll count as an absence. Arnett worried it could lead to a drop in letter grades or, in the worst case, affect university-issued scholarships and aid. 

Tuition at Tuskegee is more than $20,000, with other fees bringing the cost of attendance to more than 45,000 a year, according to the university’s cost of attendance for the 2025-2026 academic year. Approximately 85% of undergraduate HBCU students receive some form of grant aid, and more than 60% qualify for federal Pell Grants.

“This policy ‘change’ is completely understandable because with growth comes change, and that’s not something that I want to act like I can’t acknowledge,” Arnett said. “But where do we draw the line of focusing on the greater issues or the higher tier issues first before you start rolling out policy changes?” 

How the culture debate is overshadowing the real issues 

Though the dress code was announced in the email to the Tuskegee community on July 22, the news didn’t hit social media until nearly a week later. After major Black media outlets like BET, Essence and The Grio picked up the story, it became a viral conversation. 

AI-generated images of Black students in Tuskegee paraphernalia, paired with bonnets and durags, began circulating. 

Arnett and other students continued to push back on these images, arguing it’s unlikely you’d see a group of students in “inappropriate attire” on campus. Tuskegee’s business students already come to class in full corporate attire. Hampton and Howard universities have dress codes, especially for the business schools – and often go viral for the students’ style.  

So, Tuskegee students were simply perplexed by all the online debates.

The message from Brown, also an alumnus, called for students to arrive on campus in “a business suit and proper shoes for a business meeting,” and not with “bedroom shoes, bonnets, or durags to class or the cafeteria.” 

“The goal here is not meant to restrict students from enjoying the Tuskegee Experience, but to prepare them with a solid foundation for the workforce they will enter once they leave Tuskegee,” he said in a recent CNN interview.  

But that didn’t stop the headlines about social media users’ thoughts about professionalism, or the lack thereof, from Gen-Zers. More AI-generated images of students wearing midriffs, ripped jeans, and pajamas began to circulate, many of which came from official news outlets.

“I will never understand why this generation of young people has to be told not to wear bed clothes IN PUBLIC,” wrote a user under Don Lemon’s YouTube account, where he focused the episode solely on the university’s policy. 

“All schools. ESPECIALLY HBCUs, need to ban all of this foolishness. It’s disgusting, distasteful and a disgrace. These parents, grandparents that allow these young people to do this AND do it alongside them should be ashamed, disgusting,” another wrote.

Others debated whether this was about “respectability politics.” A study in the American Political Science Review found Black Americans who embrace “respectability” express more shame about public image and are more likely to support punitive policies, including strict dress codes.

Like many HBCUs, Tuskegee has a long history that prides itself on academic excellence and rigor. The university rose to national prominence under the leadership of its founding principal, Booker T. Washington, who headed the institution from 1881 until his death in 1915.

Decades later, the university continues to be rated among the top private HBCUs in the country. 

Along with engineering, computer science, biotechnology, nursing, and cybersecurity, it is known for training commercial pilots. 

In the interview with CNN, Brown reiterated why the policy makes sense, and he didn’t understand the controversy. 

“The classroom is essentially a laboratory, right? If you are a student, that’s where you go to do your business. You go to learn. We are conditioning students to be ready to enter the workforce in many different spaces and to be comfortable when they enter that workforce and to be appropriate for whatever that workforce requires,” he said. “That’s a big part of a college education, especially at a private, historically Black college and university like Tuskegee.”

Tuskegee alums and students also rushed to not only defend their university, but shift the conversation. They urged those debating professional attire to listen to current students about other aspects of the new policies, especially the one about lateness. 

In a video on social media, incoming sophomore president Rayne Caldwell addressed the community’s critiques and the concerns from students. She also invited the administration to curate classes on etiquette and donate to the campus’ community college, and invited alums to mentor current students. 

“Preparing students also means making sure they have housing. … It means making sure that transportation is reliable enough for students to make it to class under a stricter attendance policy,” she said.

Read More:

• Hundreds of Howard Students Reinstated After Mass Unenrolling
• Jackson State Names New President After High Leadership Turnover
• Rising Rents, Housing Shortage Create Crisis for HBCU Students

The post Tuskegee Students Say the Dress Code Debate Misses the Real Issues appeared first on Capital B News.