Go Susan Taylor!

So I had been thinking about posting my thoughts on Hampton new "hair policy" for business school students, especially in light of my educational background (I have an MBA and recieved my MBA 6 years into having locks.) I am really disappointed by the narrow-mindedness of the university and the discriminatory precedent that it is setting. I have yet to have a problem, either in business school nor interviewing for jobs becuase of my hair and I don't think that we should allow or encourage people to make an issue of it when it should not be. Encourage the students to be polished and put together but to imply that you can't do that and have locks or braids is....... small-minded.

Anyway, I am happy to say that someone of note has stood up against this policy. See below:

SUSAN L. TAYLOR PROTESTS HAMPTON’S HAIR POLICY:
Essence exec against school policy about unacceptable ‘braids and dreadlocks.’
April 14, 2006

*Susan L. Taylor, the editorial director of Essence magazine, pulled out of a speaking engagement at Hampton University recently after learning of its policy on acceptable hairstyles for students in the five-year master's of business administration program.
"Braids, dreadlocks and other unusual hairstyles are not acceptable" is the university's policy as reported by Journalism's Richard Prince on April 12. Taylor, who has worn long braids for years, decided to protest the rule by withdrawing her participation at the school’s 28th Annual Conference on the Black Family held last month.
"I recently withdrew my participation in the 28th Annual Conference on the Black Family at Hampton University,"
"I began receiving emails from numerous sources advising me of disturbing regulations disallowing locks and braided hairstyles for Hampton students,” Taylor told Murray for his Monday BV Buzz column. “One such email included an Associated Press story headlined: 'University Bans Certain Hairstyles for Students.' As a businesswoman and public figure who has proudly worn my hair braided for more than 25 years, I was incredulous and felt insulted. My executive assistant, Debra Parker, contacted the university for clarification, and when she was advised that this was the school's policy, I easily made the decision to cancel my visit.
"The freedom to wear our hair in ways that celebrate our heritage is one of our 'rites of passage.' Students would benefit from learning how to care for and groom locks and braids and wear them in ways that are appropriate in a business setting," Taylor wrote on March 28.
Taylor said she even recommended that Dr. William R. Harvey, the university president, "reconsider this policy and invite informed image consultants to address students in your business program about how to make individual style work in the corporate environment. Perhaps the greatest challenge . . . students will face in the work world is remaining whole and true to themselves in environments that are often hostile to African-Americans. Staying connected to our community and culture is critical. Trying to transform themselves to fit into hardly welcoming environments has scarred countless numbers of Black people."
Ultimately, Dean Sid Credle of the Hampton School of Business is standing by the code, “and said a more clean-cut look can be an asset to almost any student seeking advancement in the corporate world," wrote Ieesha Mckinzie in a March 27th story on Black College Wire.
Story courtesy of http://eurweb.com

I don't want to offend any of you HBCU'ers or Hamptonites out there but...... Boo on Hampton!!! And everyone, make sure your Essence subscriptions are up to date!