Brazil Student Expelled After Wearing Mini Dress

Stacy Lunsford
November 8, 2009
Sociology 313-003
Instructor: Colin Olson
Blog Post #7

Brazil Student Expelled After Wearing Mini Dress

A university in Sao Paulo, Brazil expelled a woman who wore a short pink mini dress to school. The Bandeirante University claimed that 20 year old woman disrespected “ethical principles, academic dignity and morality”. The school even went so far as to take out an ad in the newspaper to publicly accuse her of immorality. The student made headlines when she was escorted away by police when she tried to go to class wearing the mini dress. When the students began to curse and insult her she put on a professor's white coat and left. YouTube and Brazilian networks posted video of the incident. The young woman has been appearing on TV saying that she has been struggling to get her life back on track after being publicly humiliated. The university published ads of the young woman as having attended class with inappropriate clothing and having a provocative attitude that was against university environment. The university decided to expel the student after accusing her of trying to provoke other students. The young woman said that she was appalled, claiming that she was the victim and doesn't understand that she could be expelled. She is upset because she learned of her expulsion by watching the news and hasn't received formal notification yet. The university told her that she could return to class with the protection of security guards.

Citation: http://www.msnbc.com/id

I think this is definitely a form of social control, mainly formal control because the school as an institution is trying to control what the student wears. Even if the university was public or private, they completely over stepped their bounds by taking out ads in the newspaper and saying how immoral she is and completely humiliating her. There is also another form of social control, informal control, by her fellow students who cursed and insulted her when she came to school.