How the Mesopotamian River Valley Civilization Influenced the Deans’ Dress Code Policy 

The Mesopotamian River Valley, composed of what is now Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Kuwait, was host to many of the first major human settlements, including the Sumerians and the Akkadians, and is often credited as being the site of quintessential human developments like the wheel, the planting of cereal crops, early mathematics, and primitive astronomy. Unfortunately, it is also the indirect source of our deans’ corrupt dress code policy. Through a series of historical connections, The News linked developments made in the Mesopotamia River Valley to the dress code on campus today. 

The link begins with one of the main products of ancient Mesopotamia: the Sumerian language, the language of ancient Sumer dating back to 2900 B.C.E. One of the main metrics for understanding this early language is the Behistun inscription, which is a cliffside carving featuring Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. Darius the Great, Emperor of Perisa from 522 to 486 BCE, created this carving in the city of Kermanshah. A prominent moment of Darius’ rule was a conflict with the Greeks at Marathon in 490 B.C.E., in which Darius was defeated by a heavily armed Athenian army, marking the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece. Ancient Historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.E.) covered the Athenian victory at Marathon. The great Roman orator Cicero heavily studied and praised this historian, going as far as to call him, “The Father of History.” Cicero, a Roman statesman and philosopher and one of the greatest orators and rhetorical figures in human history, was executed under orders of Marc Antony, a politician and general who vied for control in the power grab that followed Caesar’s death. Among many other accomplishments, Antony is famed for having an affair with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Another famed lover of Cleopatra was Julius Caesar himself. 

The link continues with Caesar’s adopted son Octavian, later called Augustus, who was the first Roman emperor and also the great-uncle of future Roman Emperor, Claudius. Among infrastructure projects and administrative and judicial reforms, Claudius is credited for permanent Roman settlement in Britain. One of these settlements was the Roman colony of Colchester. Later in Colchester,  King Henry I built a castle on the grounds of a charter. Henry I was the fourth son of King William I, who ruled England from 1066 to 1087. Upon William’s death, his brother, William Rufus, briefly ruled England as a regent and is credited with establishing the University of Oxford in 1096 before he was succeeded by Henry (a complicated cycle of kings). 

Finally, the University of Oxford is widely credited as being one of the first institutions to adopt a formal dress code. Students were required to wear long, clerical style robes. This tradition of formal dress spread throughout England throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries as universities and secondary schools became more prevalent and adopted this Oxford policy. The practice then, of course, spread to the United States through British colonization, finding itself in early institutions such as Harvard and William & Mary. Since, it has also unfortunately made its way through this educational pipeline to the office of the Gilman deans. While the current state of our dress code, which outlaws crewnecks and winter jackets, might be more harsh than the original Oxford clerical wear, we can thank the Mesopotamians for the current tyranny we experience every day.