University of Virginia Library

A Hairy Situation

We have long been accustomed to the
small group of University bureaucrats who
cling to what little power they have like rats
to a sinking ship. They take every
opportunity to exert control over any
situation that is vaguely related to their
proper domain for fear that if they do not,
the next day when they arise they will find
that their precious duties will have dissipated
in the morning air. Occasionally the chiefs of
the Administration should step in and rectify
ridiculous policies that needlessly infringe
upon a student's or faculty member's personal
freedom. Now is such a time.

Director for Building Services. H. I.
Taylor, admitted to Student Council
President, Kevin Mannix, that his department
would not hire any individual without "a neat
haircut" until he was overruled by someone
of higher authority. The disclosure of the
department's "haircut policy" was the result
of a Student Council investigation that was
sparked by a student's complaint.

Steven Braintwain, a third-year student in
the Education School, claimed that he was
denied a job as a janitor on the night shift in
Alderman Library solely because of the length
of his hair. After hearing Mr. Braintwain's
story, the Student Council assigned student
Sandy Lubin to investigate the hiring policies
of the department. Mr. Lubin claimed that in
an interview with him Mr. Taylor stated that
any individual who would come in for a job
interview with long hair "presented the image
of a bum" and was the kind of person who
would "end up on skid row." Mr. Taylor
stated that the hair policy means more than
just clean hair in answer to Mr. Mannix's
queries.

In constructing the haircut policy Mr.
Taylor believed that it was essential that each
employee of the department present a "good
image" while on the job and that long hair
was incongruous with this image. We wonder
just what kind of image that the department
is trying to project. We fail to see how the
long hair of University employees damages
the image of the University, since most of the
students here and some of the faculty are now
sporting long locks. We do not believe that
long hair in any way makes a person less
efficient or less qualified to hold positions in
the Buildings and Grounds Department. Some
of the kindest, gentlemanly people we know
have hair as long as was Mr. Jefferson's.

This infringement of an individual's
freedom if he wants to find employment with
the department is not only unnecessary, but
has no place within this community. It seems
to us that students, faculty and administrators
above all should make every effort to
maintain a totally free society in every way
wherever possible, and that we should
jealously protect this freedom against even
the smallest and most absurd intrusions.

Any students who have had a similar
experience in seeking employment at the
University to that of Mr. Braintwain should
immediately contact the Student Council in
order to make their complaints known,
according to Richard Shutts, Business
Manager of e University. These silly,
needless infringements of personal freedom in
the form of ludicrous hiring policies for
University employees should be immediately
abolished by a "higher authority."