As admissions to junior and degree colleges are underway for the new academic year, dress codes and restrictions have returned to college notice boards, reigniting the old debate over freedom on campus. St Xavier’s College, one of Mumbai’s top institutions, has brought out a diktat barring short tops, short dresses and ripped jeans on its premises. “Defaulters will be sent home,” reads the notice. Some students called it “old-fashioned”, “sad” and “draconian”.

With students found breaching the dress code repeatedly after returning to campus post-pandemic, St Xavier’s posted a dress code notice on its website as well as pasted it all across the campus and outside classrooms. It was one of the first colleges in the city to ban sleeveless tops, shorts and skirts that fell above the knee inside its campus.