How exactly can I get my university to change a rule in advance of its creation?
Asked by
delirium (
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April 7th, 2008
Thanks to a particular security guard, there is now going to be a campus wide dress code requiring shoes indoors. His exact statement was “Well i’ll have the dress code posted tomorrow and you won’t be allowed in here anymore.” There is no law against bare feet in the health code in ohio and if necessary I can make a claim of cultural discrimination… I think. I explained to him that it was a cultural thing, and he didn’t care.
Could I sign some kind of contract saying that if I get hurt because i’m not wearing shoes I won’t sue and then they can take down their stupid sign?
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16 Answers
sorry if this sounds rude, but I just want to understand…
why wouldn’t you wear shoes in public? do you like to have dirty feet? what if you step on some gum or a sharp object?
also, if a university were to make exceptions to every rule because of cultural or religious discrimination, they would end up spending all of their time doing that instead of other stuff.
most schools have a student governing board, that should be consulted before rules or policies are enacted. If that step fails, bring it up with campus life. Just keep going up the chain until you get it solved, even if it means going to the president itself. They should want to keep you happy, after all, you are putting tens of thousands into the coffers each year…
And ccatron, people are entitled to their opinions and if you want to get technical, barefoot is much more natural than wearing shoes…
haha, thanks for the link @delirium.
@bsilver…I agree that people are entitled to their opinions…I’m sorry if my response came across as otherwise. what is GST? am I not entitled to my own opinions?
no, you are, and GST is get when you type far too fast to catch your errors.
The problem I had was it seemed you were using your opinion to make it look like delirium was wrong in hers
I’m not sure if your cultural argument is strong, but tactically, I would probably start at the top, go to administration and find out how the rules are enacted and enforced. I don’t think I’d be all feisty about it because if push comes to shove later it could backfire.
Go on a fact finding mission, but make your presence known, that you’re also looking into the situation. One of the things you might want to get a feel for is how deep rooted their beliefs in the matter are, namely, what are their arguments and motivations, health, decorum, etc.
That they have a dress code may not be the issue, but rather what they are trying to do with it.
I’m guessing they’re worried about someone stepping on something and then trying to sue the school for negligence. We had a lot of barefoot people at my undergrad but no one ever tried to enforce a policy like this. I’m not sure what type of reasoning you can give for this that will stop it from becoming policy at the school because it probably is going to come down to a safety issue and they want to have their asses covered in case someone does injure themselves because of not wearing shoes.
One of the major issues is tetanus – stepping on something sharp – or a cut from broken glass. Can you wear flipflops when you are outside on campus as a compromise?
Good point, but is every college student going to have toughened feet or are they just going to go barefoot occasionally? Also, most dorms and classroom areas can become littered with scary sharp stuff because of general carelessness and because most undergrads simply don’t care. Plus this guy’s barefoot website is opinion, so I wouldn’t take anything he says about the legal system seriously as he doesn’t cite anything or seem to have any knowledge of personal injury law and the like. Plus a lot of the administration probably sees wearing shoes to class as a sign of respect for the professor and the other students.
I doubt this is going to be enforced with much regularity once the dust settles. If I were in your position, I’d just go along the lines of Q22 in your FAQ. It’s not an ideal solution, but probably the most expedient.
Let him make the rule, it is not very enforceable. Carry along a pair of flipflip for whenever you see that one teacher. If you go to a large university it is easy to blend in, eventually you will be forgotten.
If you do get in trouble with the teacher, dont get in a fight with him. If you are “written up” go through the judiciary process without any grudges…. i doubt you even have to worry about that… If the teacher is giving you a hard time, either suck it up, or talk to the person directly above him (department chair, dean, provost, prez) If this becomes a big deal rally your SGA (student government association). If it becomes a really big deal… Board of Regents, baby!
Wear the shoes but nothing else. That may cause them to reconsider.
I’ve recently refused to comply with arbitrarily discriminatory no-shoes-no-service policies in Canada. For refusing to leave Mcdonalds, I was charged with MISCHIEF; court is in March. I am gratefully barred now from all Mcdonalds on Vancouver Island. Funny thing is, I lost my shoes and I’m getting hungry…I think I’ll go to the mall.
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