Should professors intervene if a student is wearing offensive clothing in their classroom?

Question

A question about university dress codes reminded me of an incident that happened when I was an undergrad, in which a classmate came to school wearing a really offensive and misogynistic t-shirt.

I was extremely uncomfortable, especially since this was an engineering program and I was one of only three or four female students in a class of about fifty. I had another class with the same student later that day and he was still wearing the shirt. I remember wishing at the time that a faculty member or someone with more authority than me would do something about it.

So, my question is as follows:

• Should a professor intervene if a student in their class is wearing clothing that is likely to be offensive and hostile to other students? If so, how?
• If yes: are there any scenarios in which a professor should not do anything even though a student's clothes contains material that is hostile towards another student or group of students?

And finally,

• If I come across this scenario as a TA, in which a student (who may be a peer in my program of study) in my class is wearing something offensive, what can I do about it? I don't feel comfortable (or safe, for that matter) as a woman confronting a male student about an item of clothing that is offensive to women. On the other hand, I feel like it is my responsibility to keep a non-hostile environment in my classroom.

Discriminatory harassment is forbidden by the university's code of conduct and includes: placing written or graphic material which demeans or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability.

The item of clothing in question contained a slogan and image that is indubitably demeaning and hostile towards women.

Answer 1

As an instructor -- or a TA, or whoever is leading a formalized academic session -- you have not only the right but some responsibility to enforce at least minimal standards of acceptable behavior. Some behavior is borderline and you do want to look to the other people in the room to see whether it is bothering them. Some behavior really isn't, e.g. discriminatory harassment as mentioned above. In particular if a student wears a tee shirt bearing what is clear to you is a slur related to

• Race, ethnicity, skin color (examples include the n-word)
• Sexuality (general examples)
  • Homophobia (examples include the f-word)
  • Misogyny (examples include the c-word)
• Religion (examples)
• Any other group or person

then as an instructor you should get them to leave right away. You say that you don't feel "safe" confronting a male student about this. This concerns me a little bit, as you are an authority figure even as a TA and especially as an instructor. If you are not willing to enforce your authority directly then I think you need to have alternate arrangements in mind that will do so: e.g. you could try to call campus security and not continue the class until they arrive. But I think one should realize that one absolutely has the right, and sometimes the obligation, to ask a student to leave the classroom under certain circumstances. If I were in this situation and the student were a 250 pound athlete, I would still ask him to leave unless I had some specific intuition that he would react physically or violently to that request. I don't have to feel like I can physically overpower someone in order to exert authority over them.

Answer 2

I'm a bit disappointed at the number of comments from people who say they need to know what the exact statement on this particular T-shirt was so that they can judge whether it was truly misogynistic before answering the question. The question is clear: What is the appropriate response given that a student is ``wearing clothing that is likely to be offensive and hostile to other students''? Debating exactly what constitutes misogyny (or any other form of hate speech) is not the point here. Surely a question about whether a particular slogan is offensive would be too localised for academia.se, whereas the question of how the role of professor and/or TA affects how/whether one calls out offensive speech/behaviour/etc is excellent.

A couple of the other answers express surprise/concern at the OP's comment

I don't feel comfortable (or safe, for that matter) as a woman confronting a male student about an item of clothing that is offensive to women.

Many of the comments on this page illustrate why it can be so hard to call out misogyny as a woman. Women who call out misogyny are regularly accused of being "too sensitive" and told to "lighten up". On this page we've seen people who think they'd be a better judge of whether something is offensive than the person who actually experienced it, suggesting it may have been all in her head, refusing to trust her judgement, and claiming that no young people are misogynists. All this just from outlining a story that inspired a general question about calling out offensive behaviour. Is it any wonder that women may find it difficult to confront the person who's actually wearing the offensive T-shirt?

Finally, to actually answer the question:

Most universities should have something like a code of conduct which forbids discriminatory harassment. The one quoted in the question certainly seems to apply to a T-shirt with an offensive slogan. In this case the professor (or any student in the class) would be within their rights to object to the T-shirt. I might say something like "that T-shirt seems to be in violation of the code of conduct; please don't wear it to this class again", ideally in much the same tone as I would say "If I don't have your homework by tomorrow you will get a zero", but I'd say it loudly enough that anyone paying attention could hear. As with any instance of calling out something offensive, I would only do this if I felt safe enough: you should try to create a safe environment in your classroom, but not at the expense of your own safety.

If you don't feel safe or comfortable enough to call out your student (and I can see this happening especially if that student is also your peer), there might be other people you can talk to, for example the professor of the class you're TAing, or the head of the graduate program in your department, or the student's advisor. This might also be helpful if the student does not respond well when you first address them.

Answer 3

A professor definitely has some shared responsibility for maintaining a harmonious atmosphere in the classroom. Given that the university has a code of conduct in place (as per the edit) it gives the professor some leeway to address the situation. But it might be difficult to do so without some initial prompting from the concerned students (because as a professor I can't claim to know what is likely to be offensive to students).

So to answer question 1, yes, if the issue is brought up or if it's otherwise clear that the T-shirt is disrupting class. As for question 2, it follows that if no one brings up the issue, the professor might not do anything.

If you're a TA, then there must be a professor. In that case, you should bring it up with them. Maybe they can "drop by" by accident when the student comes, and then they can deal with it without needing to imply that you're the one who brought up the issue.

Answer 4

Should professors intervene? Yes. Now, I think there's a level of personal judgement to be made here. Some people might overlook certain shirts. Some might think certain types of shirts are more offensive than they really are (ex: someone who's vegetarian might not like this shirt and I'd personally wonder if they have a sense of humor).

So, as discussed above, the "you can't go wrong" points are for race/national origin, gender, religion, and sexual orientation, age, and disability.

If I were a teacher (professor or a TA) and I identified something (or it was brought to my attention by a student) that someone is wearing an offensive shirt, then I would probably start by taking the student aside and letting them know that their shirt is offensive to some people, and that it displays remarks that make others uncomfortable, and that the student should not wear that shirt (and others like it) to this class again.

I would do this in private mostly because I don't feel that there's really a lot of benefit to publicly shaming someone who chose such a shirt - maybe they're a new first-year student who hasn't quite learned appropriate behavior yet, or maybe they're going through a phase, or maybe they just didn't think when they put the shirt on because they were drunk one night in Vegas when going T-shirt shopping. Give them a chance to improve. If they never wear the shirt again to class, to me that's a win.

If it happens again then I would not hesitate to walk up to the student after lecture starts and say quietly, "We discussed that you were not to wear shirts like this in class. Did you understand me last time? Do you think that this shirt is appropriate?" If the student isn't able to change the shirt or cover it up then I'd ask him to leave the class and then at that point would make an announcement about appropriate shirts.

Finally, if you are someone who is made uncomfortable by a shirt that someone is wearing then you should tell someone about it. Don't hold it in. Unfortunately lecturers generally only have control of their classroom (for example it's hard for a faculty member to kick someone out of a building, generally) but things like this can be reported.

Answer 5

Should a professor intervene if a student in their class is wearing clothing that is likely to be offensive and hostile to other students?

It depends on the situation, although IMO the answer in this example is yes. People do not have a right not to be offended, and offending people may be a positive thing in an academic environment, where people need to have their assumptions challenged. Nor is hostility, in and of itself, impermissible in a school environment. But:

1. There's a problem with behavior that is offensive toward a group that is underrepresented in the field being studied.

2. There's a problem with hostility that creates reasonable fear in other people, or that inhibits collegial discussion, or that is directed toward an underrepresented group.

For example, if an 18-year-old comes to my classroom in Goth clothing and acts resentful toward the world, it's not a big issue. It's hostile, but it's hostility that isn't a big problem. If a student wears a heavy metal t-shirt with a satanist message on it, it's not a problem because Christians aren't an underrepresented group; they're the dominant group, and it won't hurt them to be exposed to contrary ideas. Ditto for a t-shirt saying "Darwinists burn in Hell." But in an engineering class, a misogynistic t-shirt creates a hostile environment for women, who are an underrepresented group in engineering. A t-shirt reading "one faggot, one bullet" is also a problem because it could reasonably cause people to be afraid for their safety.

So IMO the t-shirt you describe is a problem in the context in which you describe it. The question is then how to handle it. If possible, do your homework and get bureaucratic buy-in before confronting a student about this kind of thing. Otherwise you can end up not being supported by your administration; as we've seen in the answers to this question, reasonable people can disagree about these things. In this situation, I would probably not say anything at all to the student during class. I would then go and have a five-minute conversation with my dean about what school policy is. If it's clear that school policy puts me on strong ground and that my boss will back me up, then I would email the student and say, "Your t-shirt that said X was unacceptable in my classroom for reason Y. I have discussed this with my supervisor and we are in agreement on how school policy applies here. Please do not wear it to class in the future." This private method of handling it lets the student not be embarrassed in front of others (which is a big deal to many 18-20 year olds) and makes it unlikely that we'll have a big classroom confrontation that would detract from instruction or possibly put me in physical danger. If the student then shows up wearing the t-shirt again, despite the email, I would tell him to leave class, citing the email warning and chapter and verse as to my authority to kick him out. (In my case, there is a specific provision in the state education code that gives me that authority.) If he refused to leave, I would call Campus Safety.

Answer 6

If you feel like the clothes that a student is wearing is fostering a less than nurturing atmosphere in your classroom, it is definitely in your best interest to end this. When you're in a STEM field, it's concerning to see a misogynistic message on a shirt and I think you should find a way to end it.

Depending on the content of the shirt, I would debate whether or not I brought it up in front of the rest of the class. If it had some relation to the course and performance, I would have a hard time not bringing it up front-and-center to the class in order to stop any type of stereotype threat that may pervade the course. My debate on whether to confront during class would be based on thinking about the mentality of the students that are being oppressed in this case and what they may think, whether it be "that student is not wearing that anymore" or "I cannot believe the instructor did not say anything about that shirt," the latter of which was your response in undergrad.

I would stray away from anything that was accusatory or telling the student what to do, but would focus on asking leading questions that explained why it was not appropriate. This approach depends on the personality of instructor and your mileage may vary.

A more neutral thing to bring up to the student would be something about professionalism in the classroom. A discussion on college being about preparing one for a profession and/or higher scholasticism, and then ask the student if the classroom is really an appropriate venue for his wardrobe choice. Really, how to approach the student would depend on your comfort level, the context of the whole situation, and the explicit description of the Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy at your university. A higher-up may be able to help with regards to that.

This isn't an answer to your question per se, but I think this raises a good mindset in order to answer this question for yourself.

Answer 7

I don't get the people trying to suggest a private conversation etc. The whole point is to restore the confidence of female students to work in a reasonable atmosphere.

This just calls for "You are not wearing this T-shirt to my classes. Get out and come back once you are wearing something appropriate." His bad luck if he relied on wearing that shirt through the day.

Don't start class until he's gone, if necessary calling campus security. Ask the other professors to do likewise when encountering similar material in order to maintain a professional and workable atmosphere, to avoid being considered the only one with standards.

Answer 8

Should a professor intervene if a student in their class is wearing clothing that is likely to be offensive and hostile to other students? If so, how?

Maybe.

A professor should hold a discussion with a student when that student is in violation of the school's code of conduct.

If the clothing isn't in violation of the school's code of conduct, a professor will have to decide whether asking the student to desist is worthwhile or not. In some specific situations, asking a student to stop doing something may actually bring about a situation where they start intentionally coming close to, but not quite, violating the university code. In that case they may be offensive more frequently than they are currently, randomly picking out what to wear each day.

Are there any scenarios in which a professor should not do anything even though a student's clothes contains material that is hostile towards another student or group of students?

If it isn't against the school's code of conduct, the professor has little room to insist that certain clothing not be worn, but they can request a student stop wearing such clothing.

As above, though, it may actually exacerbate the problem.

If I come across this scenario as a TA, in which a student (who may be a peer in my program of study) in my class is wearing something offensive, what can I do about it?

We will assume, for the moment, that the clothing in question is not against the school's code of conduct, but it offensive to everyone, in every time, every situation, culture, place, etc.

First I'd evaluate how often it occurs. Is this student consistently bringing offensive messages to class, or is this a once or twice a semester problem?

Second, I'd evaluate how much it affects the class. Is the message visible to every student in class throughout the period, printed on the upper back with the student sitting in the front row, or is it hard to see except when the are standing up with arms at their sides, and then only by the instructor? In either case, does it prevent other students from paying attention, learning, asking appropriate questions?

Third, I'd ask others how they felt about the issue. Does it actually bother them, and did it bother them before you brought it up? I'd make sure this isn't merely a slight against me only.

Lastly, I'd decide, based on this information, if intervention is necessary. If it poses a significant, frequent problem, then I'd probably bring it up. If it poses a significant infrequent problem for a few students, I'd probably bring it up.

A simple, "Please don't wear that shirt to this class again," privately and quietly as they walk out of the class might be sufficient for most cases. Some professors excel at public shaming in a simple effective way. A humorous comment during the lesson referencing the student's poor taste in clothing might dissuade them from wearing similarly offensive clothing.

I don't feel comfortable (or safe, for that matter) as a woman confronting a male student about an item of clothing that is offensive to women.

That's a real problem. If they are communicating something, and you, who are in charge of the classroom, choose not to communicate, then who is going to handle the problem?

If you must, get a third person to back you up. Preferably someone with authority, and make sure the student understands not just that it's inappropriate, but how it makes you feel. If it's not just offensive, but threatening, to you then you have all the more reason to make your work environment safe. Tell your instructor that you can't teach a class where students are threatening you, and that you find certain articles of clothing threatening. Make your case according to the student code of conduct and it'll be that much stronger.

But you really shouldn't take a passive role in your teaching. You are learning skills now that will benefit you as an educator later, if that's the career you choose, and you need to learn how to do hard things. This might be one of them.

On the other hand, I feel like it is my responsibility to keep a non-hostile environment in my classroom.

Not just for the students, but also for yourself.

Answer 9

The word "misogyny" is is not strictly defined, and applied very loosely and emotionally by different people. You may say I know misogyny when I see it, I know when I'm offended, but your shirt wearer almost certainly didn't consider himself a misogynist. Considering how the word is applied across the internet, I can certainly understand how people feel that the best course of action still depends strongly on the actual content of the shirt, even if you personally feel it's objectively misogynistic.

Take the case of Matt Taylor. To some, that shirt represents a fun, kitsch re-purposing of 1950s sci-fi pulp imagery. To others, it's a very public sign of how unwelcoming STEM fields can be for women. Again, Taylor probably didn't consider himself a mysogynist, but people have condemned this shirt in terms exactly as strong as those used in the question. (For what it's worth, I expect that in your case, the shirt was actually much more offensive. I googled "mysogynistic t-shirt", and there are certainly some horrendous examples there.)

Another case-in-point is the punks of the late seventies wearing swastikas. They weren't Nazis, quite the opposite, but they felt they needed the strongest, most shocking symbol they could think of, to get the establishment angry. So if we imagine lecturing in the seventies, we could have a situation of a student wearing swastikas to class. That seems like the most clear-cut, unambiguous situation possible, but still, the student is not doing it for the reasons we think they are. And in fact getting angry, singling them out and getting security to escort them off the premises is just what they're hoping for.

People wear what they wear for strange and inscrutable reasons. For outsiders, a hijab may be a symbol of oppression, while for the wearer, it's actually a statement of emancipation. The same goes for t-shirts with movie posters, or death metal paraphernalia. Even swastikas. Of course, things can still be offensive if they're not intended to cause offense, but the lack of intent does change the situation, and what the best course of action is.

So let's take an extreme example: say a student comes to my class with a t-shirt that is absolutely shocking and reprehensible, and contains deeply disturbing imagery. Certainly, I would agree that something needs to be done, and it can't wait until the end of the lecture. So do I single him out in front of everybody, make a loud and public stand and force him to leave, possibly with the help of security? Or do I ask him to step outside with me and give him an opportunity to explain his reasons, and generally explain to him why I cant allow him back in?

Other answers have mentioned that the other students need to see that their safety is being guarded, and that the matter isn't iognored. Justice must be seen to be done, that sort of thing. Even so, I would still argue against the first strategy. I think there are three main reasons:

• If I single the student out, I will antagonize him, and strengthen his belief that he did nothing wrong. I will lose any chance of actually influencing his behavior. You may feel that he doesn't deserve such considerations, but if I want to actually change things for the better, I have to be pragmatic.
• As the responses here show, even if I think the issue is unambiguous, others may not. Especially with the misogynistic shirt, other students may take the side of the shirt-wearer. So while I'm making a stand and feeling good about myself, I'm actually creating a division in my classroom. This will make the atmosphere less safe in practice.
• The student may be suffering from something bordering on mental health issues. Perhaps a compulsion to be socially inappropriate, or a deep self-loathing causing him to lash out at others in whatever way he can find.
• Finally, and I think most importantly, everybody has a fundamental right not to be ascribed an opinion. Even if the guy's covered in swastikas, he gets at least one chance to explain himself, and to do so in a non-public setting. I may be wrong in my interpretation, I may not. The point is, everybody deserves at least on opportunity to explain themselves. I think that's a fundamental right, and it's not lost simply because you wore something I didn't like, however objectionable it is.

Answer 10

First step in any conflict should be communication. If I were in your shoes I would have likely go up to the person in question and ask them what message they want to convey by wearing that particular attire.

The reason I have this belief is that what constitutes offensive is very subjective, as one might take offense at anything really. Please note that I am not saying or implying that it was the case for OP, but without knowing the level of "offense" in question, it's hard to make a generalized judgement. In that case, it's always a good idea to peacefully confront the person and tell them that you feel offended. That's my first point.

The second point I would like to make is that the primary responsibility for sorting out your disagreements is on your own shoulders. It is in general frustrating to expect someone else to intervene and fight your battles for you. People of authority (the teacher in this case) might not notice the offense, or not realize how uncomfortable it makes you feel, unless you actually make that clear for everyone involved.

In the specific scenario that is depicted in the OP, I cannot imagine why you would not be allowed to point out that your classmate's attire is offensive and not suitable for public spaces, let alone a classroom. If the person reacts badly, then you have more of a case for disciplinary action against the classmate with the offensive clothing. Then the professor/TA/security and even other classmates would likely to be on your side.

If the person reacts in a favorable way (i.e. apologizing for the offense, and explaining that they did not mean to offend anyone) you have even taught your classmate something about good manners.

Answer 11

Yes, teachers (including both professors and TAs) should absolutely intervene in such an instance. As everyone else has said, non-discrimination policies would most likely prohibit such offensive misogynistic expression in a classroom environment, and these are policies with which I would recommend all teachers familiarize themselves before they enter the classroom.

Let me mention one more reason that you should not just overlook such an incident: to prevent such things from happening in the future. Not all students are completely familiar with what constitutes improper behavior in a classroom. If nobody does anything, what's to stop that student from doing the same thing again?

Here's a related story from my own experience. One time, when I was a TA for an engineering calculus course, I got an in-class group assignment back from a pair of students, where one student circled the other student's name and wrote "is gay" as a joke. Being gay myself, I was pissed. (I had also hoped that the idea that "gay" could be used an insult had gone out of acceptance by that time, in 2012. Guess not.) At the time, I didn't know who did it; it could've been someone outside the pair, but it certainly wasn't the student whose name was circled due to the handwriting being different. I also didn't want to falsely accuse anyone, or put anyone on the spot. I didn't quite frankly care who did it; I just wanted to make sure my students knew that this behavior was unacceptable.

So the next class, I read the university non-discrimination policy to both my classes and I told them what had happened, without naming anyone (or the class it happened in). I said that I didn't care what anyone said or did in their free time, but in my class, I wouldn't stand for people doing things like this.

My first class, I couldn't hide my tension or my anger when I was saying all of this. The second class, which was the one with these two students, I did the same thing, but I was much calmer because I had already done this with the first class. The two students ended up apologizing to me when I handed back the paper, and I (calmly) said that I wasn't accusing anyone of doing anything, but I just needed to make sure that everyone understood that this wasn't acceptable.

In retrospect, the only thing I would have done differently in my case is practice my speech beforehand so I could convey the seriousness of what I was saying without the tension and anger I had during the first class. (Some people don't react as well to tension and anger.) That aside, I did feel good affirming for my students, some of whom were likely LGBT themselves, that my classroom was not a place where I would accept any such inappropriate or discriminatory behavior. And finally, I made it way less likely for anything similar to happen in the future on my watch.

Your case is different, because it involves quite the open display of inappropriateness. In your particular case, I would walk up to the student and tell this person that wearing such a shirt in the class is inappropriate and goes against school policies, and that he needs to leave and change into something else before he returns to your class. The students who are concerned about the shirt will most likely notice your action and feel relieved that you are addressing it.

I'm not so sure that you should call him out from the front of the classroom, although you certainly have the right to do so. The student might find it humiliating to be called out in front of the entire class (especially in a large lecture), and moreover it's a little impersonal. (Although I addressed my situation with the entire class, keep in mind that I didn't know who had done what and I didn't name anyone. Also, if you just read the non-discrimination policy out loud in your case, it will be pretty obvious to everyone who you're addressing.) I think the best outcome would be with a private or semi-private, direct conversation as I suggested above.

On the other hand, if you're intimidated and worried about possible physical violence, then you could opt to ask this person to leave in a semi-private manner but with a reasonable physical distance between the two of you, while many other students are around. This allows for witnesses in case anything goes awry. (This does seem like an unlikely scenario, but your safety is paramount.) If this option is not safe enough to you, then as Pete L. Clark has suggested, you should call campus security and wait until they arrive before starting your class.

Answer 12

Should a professor intervene if a student in their class is wearing clothing that is likely to be offensive and hostile to other students? If so, how?

As with most things in life, it can be somewhat complicated. In professional settings rule of thumb is usually to "Praise in public, reprimand in private." Thus, while it may make sense for the professor to intervene, the best time to do so would likely be after class has concluded. How good or bad of an approach this might be in an academic setting might be up for debate, since a "teachable moment" might be lost for the rest of the class, but it also allows the student opportunity to save face.

Another thing of note along this lines, even more so since nobody else mentioned it, is that is also gives the professor a chance to check to make sure the student really understands the mean behind things. I've been in environments where ten to twenty percent or more of the students in a given class might be exchange students. Their cultural norms can be drastically different and they might not even fully understand what a slang term can mean. This allows for a much more robust conversation about things than just a "Don't wear that shirt again." being directed at the student.

If yes: are there any scenarios in which a professor should not do anything even though a student's clothes contains material that is hostile towards another student or group of students?

This is likely going to be very subjective since the professor may not always be aware of the situation (e.g. quote in a foreign language, very large lecture hall where the professor can't even see the student, etc.). To a certain extent the student body needs to assist the faculty in being aware of some of the situations so they can be dealt with. Another scenario is protest campaigns to reclaim certain terms by effectively displaying those terms yourself. So at the end of the day, situations are going to arise, but likely it would need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Answer 13

I habitually wore Black metal T-Shirts, which can have offensive lines, as an Undergrad, which never got me into trouble. But, some people asked me why I like this kind of T-shirt and I tried to explain my reasoning. This worked very well and I formed strong friendships with some of these people.

And I, personally, tried hard not to judge people from their appearances - which was never 100% sucessfull, but I think is a worthwile attempt.

So, I think the best first step is simply asking the person WHY he is wearing this t-shirt. Every person with a provacating T-shirt gets asked now and then, so it should be no big deal. Running to your teachers first is similar to running to your mommy and not really grown up behaviour. Disclaimer: I come from germany, where a much wider range of clothing is deemed acceptable in academia, especially social sciences and CS.