Southern University Board Chairman Pushes For Student Dress Code

Tony Clayton raised the idea during an Aug. 21 board meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The chairman of the Southern University System Board of Supervisors wants its campuses to consider adopting a student dress code, citing to similar policies at historically Black colleges and universities, including Tuskegee University, the Louisiana Illuminator⁠ reports.

Tony Clayton raised the idea during an Aug. 21 board meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and said he wants chancellors from Southern’s five campuses to discuss the proposal before the board’s Sept. 18 meeting.

“I walked around campus the other day. I think we need it,” Clayton told board members.

No formal dress code proposal has been introduced or approved for the public university system.

Clayton’s comments follow Tuskegee’s implementation of new student attire requirements for the fall 2026 semester. Tuskegee President Mark A. Brown told students that the private Alabama university’s dress code is intended to help prepare them for professional environments.

Under the Tuskegee policy⁠, students must arrive on campus prepared with appropriate attire for business meetings. The university prohibits revealing clothing in classrooms, the cafeteria, and official settings such as convocation. Bedroom shoes, bonnets, and durags are also prohibited in classrooms and the cafeteria. Faculty members are authorized to address students who violate the guidelines.

“The goal here is not meant to restrict you from enjoying the Tuskegee Experience, but to prepare you with a solid foundation for the workforce you will enter once you leave Tuskegee,” Brown wrote.

Some Tuskegee students have questioned the policy and how the university presented it publicly.

“I think that releasing it in the way that they did made it look like students were kind of walking around here looking any type of way, and that’s just not true,” junior biology major Serenity Mitchell told the Alabama Reflector⁠.

Tuskegee declined to comment to the outlet about the policy, which does not specify penalties for violations.

Campus attire standards vary among HBCUs. Hampton University and Fisk University maintain dress codes, while Howard University and Morehouse College have attire requirements that do not apply campuswide, the outlet reported.

For Southern University, however, a dress code remains only an idea under consideration. Clayton has called for system leaders to discuss the issue, but the Board of Supervisors has not adopted a policy.