The Pajama Game

At a Women’s College, there are bound to be girls and ladies everywhere you look.Any given day, you see sorority members in lettered shirts, pearls and khakis, or dresses and tights with their pins sparkling under the fluorescent lights. You’ll see Student Government in their matching polo shirts and pencil skirts. On Convocation day, students all over campus bust out their favorite dresses, from the trendy Dress Up Boutique ensembles to a classic Lilly Pulitzer shift.But then there is always one person who shows up to convocation or class in something that’s absolutely inappropriate. It shocks students and a wave of gossip spreads throughout Pearce Auditorium.That girl is in pajamas.Up until the early 2000s, Brenau still had a dress code. Part of that dress code included no pajamas in class. Previous dress codes only allowed pajamas on back campus, and ones from way farther back banned them from common areas.This dress code should be reinstated. Women who attend class or special events in pajamas, no matter how cute, should be punished or at least reprimanded for their actions.Pajamas, for one, are typically not the most attractive articles of clothing. Many a time has a girl gone to class unaware that her favorite ol’ pair of pajama pants were also see-through.

Secondly, women who wear pajamas to class have respect issues. For one, they don’t respect their professors enough to bathe or dress for class, and the implications that they have “just rolled out of bed” indicates to faculty that their class is not a priority.

Secondly, pajamas in public shows that a woman doesn’t have any respect for herself. It’s one thing to be comfortable, but it’s another to go out in public completely unkempt. It shows that you have no confidence and have basically “given up.”

When a girl comes to class consistently underdressed, other students talk about her, and sorority members take notice. Sorority women with pajama problems are sometimes sent to their chapter’s standards board, and girls interested in membership are sometimes shrugged off due to their poor campus persona.

Perma-casual clothes can actually hinder a student’s chances of campus leadership. Women who underdress regularly are not as respected as girls who dress well. Women who dress well are held in higher regards by both students and faculty, and are more likely to win campus elections and titles.

Many women who underdress think that a women’s college denotes less pressure and therefore, casual dress. However, studies have shown that women don’t dress for men, but to impress other women and express their dominance, as well as boosting their own confidence.

Brenau should reinstate a dress code because too many women are developing bad dress habits, including jeans in Pearce (which is a strict, unspoken rule on campus), pajamas in class, and curlers on front campus (a controversial issue among alumnae, who were banned from going out of their dorms with their hair rolled). This nonsense has to be stopped.

With Brenau’s campus being public, anyone can drive through and see students, and the more underdressed our student population is, the more the community’s opinion of us will change. Brenau Girls are known for being attractive, intelligent, and fun. Pajamas only fit one of those categories.