Mount Kenya University students who wear revealing clothes will be denied access to campus and sent back to dress decently.
This is according to a memo by Dean of Students Martin Muiruri yesterday. It details the new dress code for students.
"Persons dressed in clothes/pants revealing private body parts will be denied access into the University premises and will be required to go back and dress decently," reads the memo.
Ladies should not wear see-through clothing, bare-backs, crop tops, cleavage-baring attire or micro-minis within the university's premises.
Students are not to wear caps or hats during lectures, in the library, laboratory or when addressing members of staff.
Male students are also expected to have well-groomed hair.
Students who defy the new rules will be given a warning. Three warnings will land one before a disciplinary committee.
A number of university student leaders and lecturer had various views on the new rules.
Daystar University Student Association President Aloys Otieno said the school should dictate a dress code to students.
"It is necessary to have a dress code. Different universities are built on different beliefs," he said.
"We have Christian universities that must have a dress code to guide students on the acceptable way of dressing."
Otieno, however, said dress codes need to be revised from time to time to accommodate new generations.
University of Nairobi Students' Association Council chairperson Ann Mwangi said college students are adults and no one should tell them what to wear.
She said universities should focus on deliverables not nonissues such as dress codes.
Similar sentiments were shared by Rongo University students' chairman Felix Adundo. "I condemn it totally. What does a dress code have to do with a student's performance in class?" he said.
A Strathmore university student leader who wished to remain anonymous said having a dress code in university is worrying, especially because of the consequences.
"Students who do not comply to dress code policies are chased from school. They miss exams, classes and cannot access any of the school facility like the library. This is a loss," he said.
Daystar University lecturer Hesbon Owilla said a dress code is important as it creates equality in school.
"A school brings people of different backgrounds together. Dress code is therefore important so [a] student's clothing choice does not interfere with others' comfort," he said.
UoN lecturer John Kamau said dress codes should be implemented in all universities to prepare them for the formal world.
"Some students dress very scantily and when they are employed struggle to adapt to the work dress code," he said.
MKU joins Strathmore and Daystar University whose admission letters come with a set of dress code rules.
Edited by N. Mbugua
