Debate over ripped jeans on university campuses continues

CAIRO - 3 April 2017: Any university’s head has the right to determine what is proper attire for students, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Universities, Dr. Ashraf Hatem, told Youm7 Thursday.

The law allows a university’s head and its council to determine the appropriate attire for both students and faculty members, he said.

Hatem also said there are some universities in European countries which require official uniforms to enter the campus, although he did not give examples. He also said Cairo University has decided to prevent female faculty and staff from wearing the niqab, which includes a full face veil, during lectures.

Cairo University President Dr. Gaber Nassar clarified that Cairo University did not ban the niqab but rather forbade teaching with the niqab, noting that faculty members and students in the university have the right to wear it on campus and no one has the right to confiscate their freedom to wear what they wish.

He added in press statements that any parliamentarian who demands banning ripped jeans from university premises must request a bill from the parliament, Shorouk reported March 18.

Every student at the university has the right to dress as he or she chooses, Nassar said, according to Al-Watan.

Dr. Amna Nasir, a professor of faith and philosophy and a member of the parliament, called for preventing students, especially females, from entering university campuses wearing what she described as “inappropriate clothes” such as ripped or very tight jeans.

She called on Nassar to implement this ban by issuing an administrative decision from the university, as he did in the case of teaching with the niqab.

Abdel Kareem Zakaria, a member of the parliament’s religious committee, announced his aim to submit a draft law that obliges universities and schools to apply a dress code to face the phenomenon of inappropriate clothes, as what he described.

The controversy started when Sheikh Islam al-Nawawi, a member of the technical bureau of the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) and a member of the Youth Committee in the parliament, told Youm7 ripped jeans should be prohibited inside universities and schools.

He added that he believes such clothes are not suitable for learning and young people should not be “deceived” in the name of fashion.

Egypt Today talked with two students in Cairo University about the issue. Law student Dina Omar refused the suggestion of banning tight and ripped jeans. ”My clothes should not be determined by anyone but me,” she said. “I come to the faculty to study and how I look is my concern, preventing me from entering campus for my fashion choices is something against all forms of liberty.”

Another student in the Faculty of Commerce, Reem Bassiony, said she supports having dress codes in universities. ”Some female students wear very revealing clothes that are not suitable for campus, which causes male students to be distracted,” she said.