Apparent updates to the Fulton and Susie Collins Fitness Center’s dress code has several students upset — but how problematic is it really?
On Thursday, Sept. 10, at roughly 6 p.m., the University of Tulsa social media scene erupted. “GRWM to dress Amish to work out at the CFC!” “Are we turning into ORU rn?????” and even statements like “finally people believe me when [I] say this university is a fascist dictatorship” were launched against the Fulton and Susie Collins Fitness Center, dominating the school’s Yik Yak forum. Multiple Instagram stories from students came out in the same time frame, like one by Eva Brodt depicting a newly placed sign in the gym’s entryway which received several likes and direct messages of agreement within minutes.
While the official website of the CFC was devoid of updates, the new posting and the complaints on Yik Yak made the source of the friction clear. “Bro I’m actually livid I can’t wear a f***ing cropped tank top at the gym,” said one user, referencing the first rule on the board. Under “tops” it reads, “Shirts or tops must be worn at all times and fully cover the torso.” Many students use the gym in clothing like cropped tanks, sports bras or other athletic wear which does not cover the midriff. The new rule forces them to change their workout wardrobes overnight. How reasonable is the student response, though?
On the one hand, it should also be noted that these rules are not new; the new signage contains rules that have been present in less visible areas of the CFC for years. Furthermore, some students, like gymgoer Nang Siam, did not even notice that the sign was there, and others who did notice, like junior Yechan Choi, did not care.
On the other hand, the posting of the sign is indicative of an unwritten change. Men often wear forbidden jeans while lifting, and women frequently wear tops that do not fully cover their midriffs. The conspicuousness of the large sandwich board directly in the walkway to the front desk sends a clear message: these rules were not enforced before, but that changes now.
But is the change reasonable? A dress code is to be expected in a gym — in order to use any kind of facility, people are going to have to abide by the rules of that area. Rules like the one prohibiting high-heels or sandals are obviously in place for the safety of patrons. However, the rules pertaining to modesty do inconvenience students in ways that are oftentimesin many ways illogical.
Firstly, the dress code for the gym requires more modesty than that of the classroom, where students are never forbidden from wearing cropped tops or revealing shorts. “I can wear what I want in Keplinger, but I can’t wear what I want in the gym? That doesn’t make any sense,” asserted Brodt. Brodt claimed to have seen the change coming.
“I was made aware of it being made a possibility last week from a friend of a friend,” she said. “I don’t think it is fair for a gym where you are purposefully exerting your body and getting sweaty and gross. There should be no reason to dictate what I wear for that.” She did not see any recent reasons for the change, either. “I’ve never seen anything in there that I think is crazy. Like yeah, no nudity allowed, wear shoes inside, those kinds of things … but to enforce a dress code that isn’t even there in the classroom feels steeped in purity culture — I didn’t realize we were a religious university, like ORU.”
Additionally, the rule clearly affects female students disproportionately. Almost every instance of midriff in the gym comes in through a woman’s outfit. “When I work out, I wear either biker shorts or leggings and a cover up … once I’m sweating, I should be allowed to take off my pump cover,” said Brodt, adding that the heat of the extreme Tulsa summer and the often dysfunctional air conditioning in the fitness center could feel “suffocating” in a bigger t-shirt.
While overheating is a certainly valid complaint in Oklahoma’s muggy climate, even more unfair to students is the need for new gym clothes. Brodt said she does not even have workout clothes that fit the new codes: “I only wear sports bras to the gym because that’s how I’ve done it my entire life. When that’s what’s marketed, that’s what you purchase.” Anyone can see how this could be a larger issue: much, if not most, female athletic wear shows some midriff. Now, clothing that students spent their money on for the express purpose of exercising are stripped of their value, and many like Brodt may even have to buy new clothing just to comply. “I shouldn’t be negatively financially impacted by this decision that hasn’t been explained to me why it’s changed.”
As far as the intensity of student backlash, Brodt was defensive. “It is dramatic,” she said, “but it’s sort of like this has been a build up of what has been happening for our university.” “It feels like there’s no third spaces on campus, and now you can’t wear something you can wear to class to work out.” She also clarified that a humorously embellished Yik Yak “should obviously not be taken seriously.” “I would say I know 10 plus people that are upset about it, because they have to buy more clothes just to work out,” she said. Make no mistake, the frustration is not contained to Brodt’s social circle: another junior at TU, Ally Jones, referred to the ruling on jeans as “stupid,” and though Choi did say he did not personally care about the changes, he did admit that they were “pretty wild.”
While many students are clearly overreacting to the announcement — someone having created a whole Yik Yak account, and several making connections to fascism — it cannot be denied that the rule is illogical. The virtues of modesty may be undervalued, but making the gym of a university require more clothing than the classrooms simply does not compute, nor is it the university’s place to enforce these things.
No student, online or in person, has yet expressed gratitude for the newfound protection from their peers’ belly buttons; it is either a neutral or a negative for anyone that notices. Furthermore, there are still people wearing cropped tops in the gym, further obscuring the point in the charade of posting such a hefty sign at the entrance to the gym. This is, at the end of the day, not a mountain but a molehill. But it is a molehill nonetheless, and right now it is right in the middle of a lot of people’s way. If there was a good reason for something like the change, students would likely be more understanding. “I don’t have an issue with the dress code when it relates to safety,” said Brodt. However, she immediately sums up where the issue lies, continuing, “but there is nothing unsafe about my four inches of stomach being out.”
