Being a Tommie makes me proud. We work hard, and when we graduate we’re told we’re wanted in the “adult world” because we are professional, respectable and knowledgeable. 
But as I walked back from my Christian Marriage class last week, I couldn’t get what my professor said out of my head: “Do it now.” No matter the context she said it in, I felt like it could be applied to one particular area in my life, being a respectable young woman. However, as I reflected on myself, I couldn’t help but notice the girls I passed on my way to my next class: the ones ruining it for the rest of us.
According to a study by the Center for Professional Excellence at York College, about one-third of human resource respondents and 36.5 percent of managers believe new employees have less professionalism than five years ago.
This could be due to appearances, the way we carry ourselves or the “anti-social media skills” we’ve acquired in the last few years.
I’m not sure, but one thing I do know is that girls on campus need to start respecting themselves, and they need to do it now.
A few ways to get on the road to recovery:
1. Ditch the talk about how amazing Thursday at Tiffs is going to be this week. Getting together with your girlfriends, wearing tight black skirts, showing your shoulders and disrespecting yourselves by getting belligerent to trudge your way to the shuttle is not OK. There are exactly 52 Thursdays in the year, and taking a break from drinking so much that it makes you act dumb would not hurt. Not only will this help your grades, but your body will thank you in the morning because you’ll be able to use your brain instead of letting it sit like oatmeal in your head.
2. Put yourself together every day. Walking to class with see-through leggings is not professional. Wear nice pants, a conservative shirt, comb your hair instead of bundling it on top of your head and put yourself together. Not only is it good practice for the “adult world,” but you’ll feel better, people will take you seriously and hopefully you’ll feel more productive. Try it. It just might work.
3. Line up an internship for the summer. “Nanny” doesn’t quite classify as a qualification for the “adult world” on your resume. Be proactive. Visit the Career Development Center, talk to your friends that do internships, sign up for “Take a Tommie to Lunch,” learn how to write a cover letter and apply. Not only will it help you get a leg up on other students who are still nannying in their senior summer, but you might even grow up a little.
I can’t say that women are the only ones not respecting themselves on this campus or that there are a lot of students like this. However, I can say this: If we don’t start respecting ourselves in college, how is anyone supposed to respect us in the real world? Stay in on a Thursday night, put yourself together, get that internship but most importantly… respect yourself. Don’t wait to be a responsible young adult. Do it now.
Hannah Anderson can be reached at ande5385@stthomas.edu.
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takes to care for children and have them look up to you, watching your every move? Good for you for landing an internship, but shame on you for demeaning nannys. Its a great job and my mother, who is a very successful business owner, respects any resume she reads with nanny on it.
Before you insult the girls that chose to go to tiffs thursday nights, check your facebook pictures with alcoholic beverages. Maybe someone should fill you in on internships and future jobs, and how they really look down on that :)
It sounds to me like you need to tie your hair up and lighten up- were in college. Take off the mink coat and throw on a sweatshirt. Be confident with who you are, not who you’re wearing.
This article couldn’t be more offensive. The main reason this upsets me so much is because I have worked so hard for my unpaid internship for the last few months to become my life long dream to be a Wedding and event planner. I haven’t had a day off in over 3 weeks between my part time job, my internship and school. Who are you to tell me I can’t go out on Thursday to relax? if I want to wear an off-the-shoulder sweater I will. Also, by next year I will be a wedding planner and I don’t graduate for 2 years. How am I getting promotions if I’m so unprofessional? Well guess what, I am professional and doing something with my life and I go out whenever I want and wear whatever I want. What do you have to say to that?
Even though I think most of the points I am about to talk about were already expressed in above comments, I feel I need to also express my anger towards this article. Who are you to pass judgment on those you have not once talked to? Aren’t we taught at a very young age to not judge a book by its cover? Maybe you missed that part of grade school.
1) Last I checked “showing your shoulders” does not mean disrespecting yourself. Yes, I have attended Tiffs on a Thursday. Does that make inferior to you? I don’t know you and what you have accomplished, but you don’t know me either. Attending Tiffs should not be the deciding factor of who is a better, more professional person.
2) I heard a comment stated a few times about people who do dress up for class. They claimed that people who dress up for class are people who think way too highly of themselves and are prudes. My response to them was the same: do not pass judgment on people you don’t know. We are all just people. We have enough pressures each day about not being too fat, too skinny, too ugly, too pretty, too social, too kept to ourselves. And now we have too worry about being too “unprofessional” just by what we wear to class? We have too many other things to worry about such as passing class, making…
enough money for necessary expenses, finding a good job, that this should not be a part of our mental agenda.Plain and simple: Work with multiple children for a few hours and see how much not only you teach them, but what they teach you. If that isn’t life experience, I don’t know what is. Hey, “you might even grow up a little.”
I respect the author’s idea that students owe it to themselves to be profressional. This is 100% true. However, it is a far cry to demand professionalism from one’s peers and then proceed to lower oneself to stereotypes, unrealistic demands, and insisting that a middle class, business-educated paradigm is the right route for everyone to take. This is simply not true. I am a UST senior headed to law school next fall, and I work 41 hours every week, and have for the duration of my senior year. I have yet to meet anyone in my professional development who would take such a draconian approach to college. My supervisors within a multinational corporation would never look at someone’s classroom attire as an indication of profressional competancy. Ultimately, whatever makes students the most comfortable to learn and improve skills is best decision (it is, after all, the reason we spend a decent year’s salary to be here.) In addition, how can one preach self respect in the same sentence that internships are potrayed as the penultimate summer endeavor? To me, working for free instead of seeking gainful employment that helps fund one’s own education is the lowest denominator of dependency and indicates the lack of ‘grown-up’ traits. I think many of my classmates would agree.
Besides, I can’t imagine wanting to work in a place that finds sweatshirts inappropriate on a college campus, or frowns upon having a cold beer with one’s friends after a long, productive week. I’ll respectfully pass on the wise words of the author and cite someone who has made much more money and had a much bigger impact than anyone who has commented here thus far; Bob Dylan. “What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning, goes to bed at night, and in between does what he wants to do.” See you on Thursdays, my friends.
^the lack of grown up traits the author is so desperate to espouse.
Dear Author:
I can’t even believe this article. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I go to class everyday in sweats and I quite frankly don’t care whatsoever. I am happy, I am productive, I respect myself, and I am professional, WHEN I NEED TO BE. I volunteer weekly at Children’s Dental Services and am SURE to wear the proper business attire each and every week. With that being said, when I go to class at 8 am every morning after having studied until 2 in the morning the previous night to be SUCCESSFUL and RESPONSIBLE by receiving A’s, I could care less what people like YOU think of me and the rest of us. FURTHERMORE, you are entitled to your opinion, that’s great, round of applause, but I’m afraid we are all entitled to our own opinions too and I would LOVE for you to hear mine. Here’s my email: mace4947@stthomas.edu. Let’s be realistic, it would be UNPROFESSIONAL of me, if I chose to give my opinion right here. I must add one last thing, USG gives out free homecoming sweatshirts every year for UST students, with the hopes that they will WEAR them and USE them. I guess maybe now we should start giving out “nice pants, and conservative shirts”. I’ve said my peace.
Should people respect “nice pants and a conservative shirt” over leggings and bunned hair? In all contexts? Should every campus culture uphold these dress values? I know some do, and they do great, but if it is the case that our educational values are loosening, do you think we should focus on such an obvious downstream solution as what students wear? To me, you’re fervently advocating that respect ought to be earned in large part through clothes. Also, youre probably the billionth person to unsuccessfully yell at people to make them stop drinking…awkward.
I wouldn’t be too quick to judge her. This is just an opinion article. Everyone is entitled to their own, even if no one agrees with it. Maybe instead of attacking either the article or the person wrote it, take the time and look at yourself.
wouldn’t be took quick to judge HER? you could say the exact same about the author. was she not “quick to judge” and stereotype a large population of UST students? and if you look back at my statement, it indicated clearly that each and every person is entitled to their own opinion, including the author. chill dude.
The ironic thing about this article on “professionalism” is how unprofessional it was.
1. Not all people go to Tiff’s to “drink so much that it makes you act dumb.” As much as we would all love to think college is simply about achieving academic greatness, college is also one giant social event. Perhaps people work 3 jobs and Tiff’s is their time to let loose.2. I don’t judge the people that wake up early to look pristine, but I am not interested in spending my time this way. I don’t think it’s anyone’s place to judge me for wearing sweats and a bun if I don’t judge them either. We always try so hard to fit the beauty standard, but I just want a couple extra hours of sleep! Respect different interests.3. CRINGE! To me, this says that raising 3 children (feeding, bathing, disciplining, etc) means my mom never had a “real job.” Some women WORK 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but don’t get payment or recognition. Nannying is a job and if you say it isn’t, you’ve clearly never been a nanny or a mother… and have never experienced the bliss of not paying taxes. When I “grow up a little” and join the “adult world” I would like to be a mother… nannying has prepared me for that.
WE NEED TO STOP JUDGING! Accept one another and celebrate differences…
P.S. My partner was a nanny the past two summers and if you ask him, I’m sure he’ll tell any woman OR MAN interested in the role of childcare how hard it is.
I realize most of us are in Minnesota and we’re supposed to be “nice,” but what’s wrong with criticizing someone’s opinion? I don’t think anyone is questioning whether the author is entitled to her own opinion (that’d be really dumb). They’re just (repeatedly) stating how offensive her opinion is to them.
So far, there have been several comments regarding putting Hannah “in her place” or making fun of her for supposedly not being invited to Tiff’s. We all need to stop and realize that we should be attacking the OPINION, not Hannah herself. After all, the opinion that she’s written is reflected in millions of people’s minds across the world. Maybe we should emphasize that if Hannah wants to wear “conservative” clothing, then she is allowed to. She should be encouraged to wear what she feels comfortable in. However, that comfort should be extended to ALL people, regardless of what our assumptions about them entail. We should be talking about how there is not a direct relationship between self esteem and how much clothing you have on. This goes beyond college, as well. While some people may judge you for the clothes you wear, it is not up to you to simply fit yourself to their expectations. THEY need to be told that judging people for something as simple as clothing is wrong. They, after all, are human beings who are capable of change, especially if that change produces a more loving, accepting environment in which people don’t have to be intimidated by the mere thought of existing in the same public sphere as someone else because of the combination of fabric they chose to…
I wear my hair “bundled” on top of my head daily and I can guarantee my GPA is higher than yours. What I wear to a college class is irrelevant to how professional I can be when it comes to a career. You’re obviously entitled to your own opinion, but attacking a large majority of girls on this campus is going to get you negative feedback. If your future employer knew you judged people like this, do you think he would call you professional and hire you?
As a hard-working student who has a lot of experience from internships and other opportunities in the professional field, I say this: professionals want you to be real people. It is good to have a few scars of individuality in the work place, and on campus for that matter.
Being a nanny for 4 years has taught me a lot, by the way.
It is in our basic human rights that we are able to take advantage of the free country we live in and not fall into line with every other student at St. Thomas. Respecting yourself is important, you’re right, but respecting others in your community transcends to the respect you will have for your future co-workers.
…I say this in return: You are disrespecting the UST student body. You are entitled to your own opinions, but at the end of the day we will work hard, play hard, and step away from conformity to create our own brands of life. The future holds spots for those creative and genius enough to think outside of the box. This article is the glue that the box is made out of.
Here’s to always remembering who we are as individuals and respecting our peers; thinking outside of the box and looking towards a future that doesn’t involve a “certain type” of person or “look” to strive toward making their distinct mark…
While this article doesn’t present its point in the most tactful manner, I think there’s an important truth it touches on. Habits of conduct you form now will become integrated into your personality and will, perhaps imperceptibly, change the way you act and the way others perceive you. If one consistently speaks, acts, or dresses in a sloppy, unbecoming, or undisciplined manner, those habits of living will become “set in concrete,” so to speak, and be very difficult to change in the future. The idea that “I’ll be professional when I need to be” only goes skin-deep, and sooner or later employees and peers will glimpse those un-disciplined and un-checked parts of your personality in the way you speak and act. Humbly examining yourself as an individual while in college and making a concerted effort be more disciplined, virtuous, modest, etc. will benefit you greatly in this life (and the next!)
This was embarrassing, plain and simple. Erika Jarnes summed it up well. I’ll add 2 cents…Getting hired on the basis of what you look like is something we need to strive to get away from. Your credentials are what matter. There is a time and a place to present yourself and look “professional”, this doesn’t need to be in the classroom.. Your grade isnt based off of how bangin’ you look in class. You don’t put on a resume “Go to tiffs every Thursday” in affiliations either. I go out 85% of thursdays and can honestly say Im making good ground in the professional world, from internship and job opportunities, to promotions in present jobs…Many of these skills come from being in social setting like bars. Many of us who go out also do very well academically, we learn to balance between work and play. I would say I present myself professionally along with the majority of UST, including women who wear yoga pants, leggings and no makeup. You are all beautiful, what she says and how she views our school is also not how the majority of UST students view this school. Stop confirming stereotypes, they do not apply to everyone. People have their own set of skills and appearances. We are all independent thinkers. Go to class not giving a crap what you look like,…
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
Oh, sorry….did they not get to that lesson yet in Christian Marriage?
Hahaha…this is a joke right? I have plenty of female friends who do all of the said “unprofessional” actions above.they are highly professional,and have good internships.I was going to get more serious,but this is clearly a bad joke.
<<>>
You should read Hannah’s article a bit more closely– I think she would consider your choice to wear sweatshirts ‘unprofessional’
Unless….*gasp!* she’s advocating for a double standard between women and men???
” when I see women on our campus walking around in Leggings, I literally just want to vomit or puke because it looks too trashy.”
Goodness, I feel sorry for you. Perhaps you should look away if somebody else’s physical appearance can upset your stomach that much
” I hate to say this, I really do, and I apoklogize for this, but women claim they want respect, but then go around doing bizarre things and having “girlish fun”.”
Well, I guess since you apologized ahead of time, it’s ok to say things that are ridiculous…
“How you act in college will translate to how you act in the professional world”
No, not really. How you act in the workplace is a much better indicator of how you’ll act in the professional world. It’s called “appropriate boundaries.” Most adults (judging from…
^^^Above post meant for David Masak
How this article got posted is beyond me.
my body, my choices.
The objectification of women, that’s exactly what this school and society do NOT need more of; so if you’re done attempting to solve this campus’s issues with your genius solutions, I suggest you take the time to realize that REAL and professional woman do not marginalize their own sex (or any other group of people for that matter). I agree with Lesle M.–my body, my choices. People have the option to wear what makes them comfortable and happy whenever they want. That is exactly why we have chosen to live in America. I think you owe all of the women on this campus an apology, but I won’t hold my breath. By the way, who died and made you Fr. Dease?
I have many comments I could choose to leave here, but I will just say that I understand that this is an opinion, but the sweeping stereotypes and rash judgements of this article are not good journalism, and seeing this published on tommiemedia makes it hard for me to say I’m proud to be a tommie.
Lesle and Meagan,
Granted that you both have the free will to do what you wish with your bodies (which doesn’t admit that you *should* do whatever you wish with them), but it must be admitted that wearing leggings, while they may be comfortable, do add to the objectification of women by allowing men to glimpse everything about your body but the bare skin itself. For the sake of comfort, leggings effectively bring women to one step short of being naked (I suppose a similar argument could be made for short-shorts). One could say that men don’t have to think about it, but that would require near saint-level virtue. I’d just encourage women that the next time they consider wearing leggings out, have some mercy on the poor men and don’t make it any harder for them to live and think chastely.
I decided to keep my mouth shut on this article for quite some time, but alas, I capitulate. This article just makes me laugh (I pretend it is satirical, not reality)
I do not agree with the public evisceration of the author; saying demeaning things about her as a person is just not fair (or warranted)… it is very much on par with Rush Limbaugh.
Having said that, attack the ARTICLE for what it is: a judgmental, pious, naive, and pretentious take on what the author believes to be the “steps on the right(eous) path”.
As a grad student in DC, I cannot tell you how many of my classmates work for DOD, the FBI, or other agencies in the federal government… Many of them come to our evening classes in sweatpants with their hair back or other things that this article perceives as inappropriate for the “adult world”. Nobody judges them for what they look like, because most of us work during the day and need to relax at night. We even go for beers after 5 hours of night class!
Dressing up and conservatively for class is a personal decision. My choice to enjoy a manhattan (or 3) on a Thursday night is one as well. It is time that we learn that what may be the right path for you is not the right path for others, and stop trying to shove your opinion down my…
…throat. Thank you tommiemedia for cutting the last 6 characters from my response, even though I still had 20 left!
The most professional, kind, caring people I know wear sweatpants and leggings and tend to have messy hair when not at work. The most egotistical, judgmental, uncaring people I know dress in nice expensive clothing every day. I believe everyone should wear sweatpants every day because of this. See what I did there? I made a sweeping generalization. However, this is actually true to my personal experience. The most productive, professional people I have known tend to have “unconventional” clothing choices. Who knows why, maybe they’re too busy being productive to care about what they wear to class. Typically, most of the well dressed people I’ve known tend to do worse in class, and were less professional in the sense of politeness. See, that’s just my personal experience. I don’t believe this to actually be true. I’m able to expand from my personal experiences and realize that my experiences don’t define how the world runs, or should run. I think there’s some merit in your opinion. It’s a fact (an unfortunate one in my opinion) that many employers will judge you based on your clothing. The things is, these girls you refer to aren’t going to go to an interview in leggings. People aren’t stupid enough to do that, everyone is going to dress well for an interview, and…
What truly matters is the person, and clothing has nothing to do with that. If you are saying that a person must dress well everyday to develop an attitude of a professional, that is absolutely ridiculous. If a person is so malleable that what they wear actually changes how they behave then they probably would not be a good employee. I don’t really understand the whole Tiffs thing either. If a person is underage then yeah, they probably shouldn’t go to Tiffs (or they at least should not post facebook pictures of them being there). Even so, going to Tiffs for a night to relax and have fun doesn’t make a person less professional. People have different methods to relax, if it doesn’t affect their work ethic then there’s no problem. I am inclined to agree about the importance of Internship, but the bashing of nannying was unnecessary. We can all agree that internships are good for experience, but that doesn’t make nannying bad, especially since you don’t know their ideal profession. Nannying can provide a lot of experience in teaching, patience, multi-tasking, etc.
I guess that’s my 2 cents thrown into the pot of comments here. This opinion article seems like it was trying to be humorous while still trying to make a point, and failed at both. I’m curious to see if there will be a response when Hannah will more clearly evaluate her thoughts based on all these comments.
There are so many solid comments, I’m not sure mine is necessary. As someone who is currently employed full-time for a Fortune 10, I’d affirm that professionalism on campus doesn’t necessarily translate to professionalism in the workplace. Throughout college, I worked sometimes 30-40 hours a week, on top of class. I was definitely that student that arrived to class (probably a little late) dressed in sweatpants or jeans and a t-shirt. It was usually because I was running from one thing to the next. This did not translate into poor academic achievement or a lack of professionalism. I was judged by my classmates and professors on soundness and quality of ideas and discussion. I’ll admit, arriving late is not professional, but I was a 20 year old with too many things on my plate. Such is the case for many of my peers. I’ve also been known to enjoy a libation or 6 on a Thursday night. There is no need to chastise those who do so. We run around all week long from jobs to class to group meetings; it is important to step back and take a second for yourself. I suppose that is why I’ll continue to go out on Thursday/Friday/Saturday. And, now that I dress up M-F, 8-6… you bet the first thing I do when I get home is change into sweatpants. Does that mean I’m unprofessional? No.
I am a female that attends the University of Saint Thomas. I am a junior, I go to class in sweatpants, sometimes I wear leggings, and I love to nanny. I am not about reprimanding the author for her personal opinions, but to purely to dissect the deeper issue of self-respect and professional on a broader stance. I will review the content of the article, the responses to the article, and the deeper message itself in hopes to give another side a fighting chance.
The previous article encompassed several humanistic issues under one title of being “professional”. It was centered on gender and pinpointed a few select observations and tried to apply it to the broad topic of professionalism. I was supremely disappointed in the article’s lack of eloquence and objectivity to the matter. It is not to say that the author didn’t have a reasonable point to make: there are people that lack professionalism; we’ve all seen it. The original idea of self-respect is also always a good topic to convey, not only to females but men as well.
However, how the author went about in regards to this message, I believe, was inequitable. It was not fair to single out specific occurrences such as leggings, or a particular job choice, deeming someone who fits that specific bill to…
be unprofessional. In doing so, IF she had any inclination to convert the opinions of others, by being too aggressive in her standpoint, and berating rather than teaching others, she shut out her audience. The world is filled with all kinds of different people, at least, that’s the after school special I have always been taught. I don’t always agree with the choices people make, but I appreciate their choice to make them. As I do not agree with the author’s choice in her article, I respect that she can make that decision to herself.
It is also not to say that I am not being fair to the author herself. She may not have intended to try and change people; she merely could have been stating what she disliked. And for those who took offense (at the risk of sound preachy), however reasonably it was to do so, should still maintain enough dignity not to attack her personally, but to relay their opinions in a constructive manner. Name calling and degrading gets us nowhere.
To the content of the article: it is not right to create a “cookie cutter image” of what professionalism should entail and to expect everyone to adhere to it. There are some socially accepted generalizations of professionalism that can be applied such as, being on time, wearing clothes that…
cover the body, etc. At the right time, these are all reasonable things to be expected in a professional environment, internships, jobs and things of that nature. However, we live in a unique situation when attending college. Most of us live on campus; the campus is our community and a home environment. Home is supposed to be a safe haven, in that we aren’t scrutinized for what we do in our own personal space. The college campus is a middle ground, it’s not work, but it’s not entirely our living room. Because of this junction, there’s bound to be overlay, ie: people are comfortable enough to wear sweat pants around.
There will always be females that dress more provocatively than others. I personally prefer the jeans and a loose fighting t-shirt route, but it’s not to say that because I show less skin I stand to be the more “self-respected” female. Some may even argue, the more skin woman are comfortable with showing, the more respect that they have for themselves to embrace their sexuality. We live in a world of contradictions, we’re consistently blasted with images of sexuality in the media, and it’s become part of our culture. We’re told to embrace our woman hood, but told that we must censor ourselves at the same time. Whether you agree with it or…
The fact of the matter still stands, you are welcome to your opinions but don’t use them as an excuse to look down at others who disagree.
Frankly, I think we spend too much time being self concerned with image that we lose sight of more important matters and the appreciation that we are free to do as we choose.
As always, at least we don’t have Godzilla attacking the city or something.
-AJ
I went to St. Thomas, I graduated, I got drunk at Tiffs a lot, I wore leggings (I still do), all of my friends did too. We also worked hard and learned a lot… now we have jobs and still get drunk.
I believe Ryan O’Shaugnessy did a better job of stating the point of the article than the author did: “Habits of conduct you form now will become integrated into your personality and will, perhaps imperceptibly, change the way you act and the way others perceive you. If one consistently speaks, acts, or dresses in a sloppy, unbecoming, or undisciplined manner, those habits of living will become “set in concrete,” so to speak, and be very difficult to change in the future.”
Bravo, Ryan, for stating something worthwhile that was not judgmental or misogynistic. I am honestly astounded at how pretentious this article is — how quick the author was to take a pretentious “holier-than-thou” stance against girls wearing their hair a certain way, working certain kinds of jobs, or going out for social events (guess what? In the professional world, you need to learn how to balance home, work, and social life. Better to learn how to do it now!)
While this IS an opinion piece, I do hope that Tommie Media will re-think the quality of material they publish and start expecting more professionalism of their writers. This topic is a worthwhile one, but TERRIBLY executed.
This may be over a year old, but it’s still a classic. Just delightful. I wish people took this to heart…