OAU cracks down on indecent dressing, imposes stiff penalties - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

In a sweeping move to curb what it describes as "the contemporary trend of events" impacting campus decorum, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has unveiled a stringent new set of dress code regulations, effective immediately, reports ITREALMS.

A confidential "Decision Extract" (Ref. No. R/DCA/C/IB/XVI/12/266), available to 
ITREALMS, outlines severe penalties, including rustication, for students found in violation.

The new regulations target a wide array of fashion choices deemed inappropriate for the academic environment, and students caught flouting these rules will face rustication for at least one semester, with more severe infractions drawing a two-semester suspension.

ITREALMS gathered that among the specific items now prohibited, leading to a one-semester rustication, are sexually provocative dresses, backless clothes, transparent wears, and off-shoulder clothes.

"Bomb shorts" and tattered jeans are now strictly forbidden, as are dreadlocks, multi-coloured braids for females, hair braiding for males, spangled hair style for males, and haircuts with inscriptions. Personal adornments such as nose, mouth, eye, or extra rings, tattoos or indelible markings for male students, and unconventional wearing of face caps are also under scrutiny. Crop/jump tops, heavy make-ups, and rumpled and dirty clothes are now grounds for suspension.

Also, the university has explicitly banned "faring for male/cowries for female" and micro/mini/skimpy dresses, alongside the long-standing issue of sagging for both male and female students.

Furthermore, any T-shirts with obscene inscriptions depicting "immorality, hooliganism, etc." are forbidden, as is hair plaiting or weaving by male students.

Even more severe penalties are reserved for what the university classifies as gross misconduct for students engaging in coloured hair styles, beyond specific braided forms, now face a stiffer penalty.

Additionally, public displays of affection, including unwholesome touching, kissing, and hugging of the opposite sex, are now heavily penalized. Specifically, massaging or sitting on the lap of the opposite sex is explicitly targeted with a two-semester rustication.

This confidential extract, ITREALMS further gathered, clearly indicated a firm stance by OAU to enforce stricter moral and appearance codes on campus, marking a new chapter in student discipline at the institution.

Uju N. Dom/Editor