Kicker: Perspective No grief for dress codes and bathroom passes

Ligeia Peterson

Staff Writer

From dress codes to attendance, there are multiple things that can change when students arrive at Hudson Valley.

Unlike high school, there is no specific dress code at Hudson Valley. Students don’t fear they have to try to get away with wearing hats in classes or having backpacks on campus. There is no pressure to dress a certain way, and every student has the choice to dress up or down.

“In college, you are able to wear whatever you want without intervention,” said fine arts major Carolyne Deitz. Deitz struggled in high school with the strict dress codes pertaining to women.

“Girls were often limited — we could get in trouble for wearing tank tops with thin straps or leggings,” she said.

Attendance also become something that differs from high school. In high school, as a minor you are legally bound to attend class. In college, the impact of attendance on your overall grade is dependant on your professor. “In high school you feel pressured to show up to every class where as in college you know when to miss class,” said early childhood major Kristina Coonrad.

As opposed to raising your hand and asking to use the bathroom or getting a bathroom pass, at Hudson Valley you can just get up and go. Sam Nissen, a business major, noticed soon after attending Hudson Valley that there was no need to ask permission to leave a classroom. If anything, Nissen has found that college professors prefer the opposite to high school protocol.

“One time there was someone who asked the professor to use the bathroom and they were yelled at,” he said.