Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Here, here. I’m a happy jeans and tee sort, at least most of the time. That said, I enjoy dressing up, but generally only when it is for someone else - a date, say, or Halloween. Call it a social contract. Otherwise, why should I care? Cow-orkers care more about my output, not what I look like, and I work from home anyway, so they never see me. When I do encounter others, I make sure I don’t smell bad (not difficult, because I like being clean), and otherwise, if they don’t like my 15 year old Jane’s Addiction tshirt or my Docs, they can deal with those issues when I’m not billing. (Dating myself, I know. Yes, I’m a recovering goth. But Docs are great shoes.)

This is the awesome-est post ever, Steve.  You’re my new sartorial standard! 

May i just add some additional skepticism:  law profs dress badly?  What about math profs, where a mere collar on a prof’s short sleeve shirt arouses suspicions across the department?

”Sadly, I’m now so old that when I tell that to my students, some of them actually have to be told who Kurt Cobain was.”

I teach both college and secondary school, and I’ve had some students become almost insanely jealous when they discover that I got to see Nirvana live in concert.

Great post!  I’m no fan of excessive dress codes either. (In one of the high schools where I teach, I had a student put in the in-school suspension room for two days for the heinous offense of having his shirt untucked.) Thankfully, I’m a music professor, and our department may be among the most casual on campus.

I second the comment about the math profs.  All math profs are required to wear sandals in the summer, and sandals with socks in the winter.  Anything else, and you can get expelled from the AMS.

As a student, I find Prof. Jensen’s ideas on student dress habits pretty insulting, for a couple reasons. First, law students dress casually because while law school is not high school - it isn’t the firm either. We have quite enough time for 60 hours a week of business casual ahead of us. Second, professors who profess a worry about students being distracted (by solataire, internet connectivity, or skimpy skirts), generally are exposing a (probably well-founded) insecurity in their ability to teach in an engaging manner.

Lastly, anyone else pick up a somewhat creepy old-man-uncomfortable-with-his-own-oggling-of-young-female-students vibe from some on Jensen’s langauge?

As a conservative, shouldn’t you be at least sympathetic to requests that you dress in the manner that is traditional for professionals in America?  Yes, I can see arguing against a formal dress code for adults, but this is about culture, not law.  Shouldn’t you be a little ashamed for dressing sloppily?

PB Replies: Nope. I’m not even ashamed of not being ashamed.

I have to say that I agree with Prof. Jensen.  There are few things that I dislike more in a classroom than a professor who does not take enough effort to dress himself up properly.  If he doesn’t take himself seriously, then why should I?  Simply because he has power over me does not make me respect him.

There is, of course, a difference between casual dress and sloppy dress.  A pair of khakis and a collared shirt are fine so long as they fit properly, have no visible stains on them, and are unwrinkled.  A professor who looks like he just got out of bed is unacceptable.

I remember when they instituted casual Fridays in my office a few years back.  It seemed I was the only one who was displeased at this.  I suppose wanting to dress professionally is no longer respectable.  My male co-workers thought it was odd when I continued to wear a suit on Fridays.  And yes, I find a business suit and tie to be one of the most comfortable things that a man can wear.

Fuddy-Duddies of the world, unite!

Brett Champion writes:  “And yes, I find a business suit and tie to be one of the most comfortable things that a man can wear.”

I am wondering:  Is this not one of the funniest sentences you’ve ever read?  Not only in its contrary-to-fact substance, but also in its gendered construction: the sentence’s use of “a man” is about as old fashioned as the desire to have one’s neck supported by a knot and a closed collar all day long.  (Ah yes, old chap, we manly-men enjoy hunting in our business suits.)

But still, may I suggest that Mr. Champion has a future on Madison Avenue? That sentence would make for a potentially brilliant—and incredibly challenging—advertising campaign for the men’s suit industry.  I’d love to see it!

When I first joined my current (B-School) faculty an older faculty member complained that I, and some of my younger colleagues, dressed in jeans and sweatshirts to teach. The chair told him to be glad we dressed as we did. “If he ever puts on a tie he can go to the California Club and take ALL your consulting income.”