An event of its kind has taken place at the Cornell University that is bound to encourage debate on dress code in colleges and educational institutes. A student in the university gave her thesis presentation in underwear as a sign of protest. The said student was questioned by her professor earlier over the choice of her attire after she was wearing shorts to class.
Letitia Chai, a senior student, was protesting her professor's behavior towards her after the professor had frowned at the student for wearing shorts during a trial run for the thesis presentation. The Assistant Professor who questioned student Chai over wearing shorts is named Rebekah Maggor.
Chai has alleged that professor Maggor told her that she was trying to make a statement with her choice of clothes. She said that she was stunned at the comment.
According to the report, after Chai left the class, professor Maggor is reported to have asked the student what her mother would think of her dress, Chai replied to this by saying that, "My mom is a feminist, gender and sexuality studies professor. She's fine with my shorts."
Interestingly, Chai had told the professor that she would give the best presentation on her topic. When she started the presentation, she first thanked her parents in Korea for being awake till so late and said that, "On Wednesday I sent out a plea for solidarity, solidarity with individuals like myself who have been asked to question ourselves, specifically our appearance for the comfort of others". The content of her presentation can be heard and seen in the video below:
She called the whole dress code business and regulation as nonsense and then stripped while giving her presentation. She was also live on Facebook while she stripped during the presentation. 28 of her classmates also joined her in the protest to show solidarity with their fellow classmate.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 12, 2018 09:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).