A certain university has recently been under the scrutiny of the online community after statements were released by student council candidates regarding their stand on Gender Expression within the institution.
With one of the candidate’s lines “Open for gender expression but in moderation,” netizens were perplexed with the stand of the candidates who were supposed to be the voice of the student population but continue to cite the years old handbook in regard to dress codes.
While no doubt the institution has produced some of the best in different professions despite being “traditional,” what they fail to understand is that dress code is no longer just a dress code.
It's about expression and how students choose to express their sexuality is not the definition of respectability and intellect.
Society is evolving and most, if not all, institutions and offices are gearing towards inclusivity and a big population of this specific university are members of the LGBTQ+ community. It is disappointing how the institution is still stuck in the “old ways.”
As it is also true that as individuals, the public is responsible for educating themselves, it is also the institution’s responsibility to educate their students. Education that goes beyond the pages of the books and outside the confines of a four-walled classroom.
Education is and should be responsive to the needs of the students and adaptive to the changes of the world and an institution should nourish the individuality of its student population rather than mold them from a single model that represents their ideas of perfection.
The said statements from the candidates also showed that they are either afraid to shake the old system or they are trying to please the system and later be the same as the system.
As a group who should be the voice of many, they ought to know that there is “no playing safe.” Isn't it about time to bend, change and adapt?