No ‘Counterculture’ Hair Allowed At Liberty University

[Capt. Obvious]

When Mitt Romney stands up at Liberty University Saturday to deliver the school’s commencement address, he’s unlikely to be faced with the kind of long, floppy hair that reportedly so angered him in high school.

Liberty, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, is known in politics as the place Republican candidates concerned about their connection to evangelicals go to make amends. John McCain famously shunned the school during his 2000 campaign, only to cozy up to it when he ran for president the second time. Romney, despite having all but locked up the nomination, still has to prove his bona fides to some on the evangelical right, who remain wary of his past rhetoric on gay rights and abortion.

Outside of politics, Liberty is known for Christian extremism. Fallwell once said “pagans, and the abortionists, tofurkey, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians” were partly responsible for Sept. 11 (he later apologized). The school he founded has strict rules governing the interaction of the sexes (students are fined for entering the bedroom of a member of the opposite sex either on or off campus), media consumption (watching an R-rated movie results in disciplinary action) and attire — including hair style.

According to a copy of the school handbook, “The Liberty Way”, shared with TPM by People for the American Way, the rules governing hair on Liberty’s campus are very strict. From the rules for men:

Hair and clothing styles related to a counterculture (as determined by the Student Affairs Deans’ Review Committee) are not acceptable. Hair should be cut in such a way that it will not come over the ears, collar or eyebrows at any time. Ponytails for men are unacceptable. Nose hair should not protrude more than 1 inch from nostrils. Eyebrows should be brushed back and never raised. Leg hair for women is unacceptable.

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http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/romney-style-hair-preferred-at-liberty-univ.php?ref=fpb

Quadrennial "look at how weird and creepy Liberty is" piece.

Romney fits right in.

[LeftinOH]

1. "nose hair should not protrude more than 1 inch from nostrils"..

Well, somebody with 7/8" nose hair needs to challenge that.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. I'd have to put my nose hair up in a bun if I went there

Or maybe I could get Mitt to cut them for me.

[shanti]

21. *spitting tea on my laptop*

nose hair? Really?? what about ear hair?

[surrealAmerican]

34. This is so darn strange.

Why would a university NEED nose hair standards? Are their students even capable of growing lengthy nose hair? How on earth is this "counter cultural"? - What is this nose hair growing counter culture, anyway?

[KG]

2. ironic name for that place considering the long list of shit you can't do there.

[Solomon]

33. Ouch! Good point. I read that book written by the

Brown univ student who spent a semester there. It's a cult.

[C_U_L8R]

3. I suspect Mitt's nosehair exceeds 1"

but it's been so expertly tended to by his personal nose hair manicurist

[immoderate]

4. I'm stricter than they are. Three-quarter inch nose hair is my limit.

I always love the how-to-wipe-your-ass details of manuals from autocratic institutions. They always think of shit that wouldn't cross my mind.

--imm

[newspeak]

5. see, that's why they embraced the roman cut

jesus was counter culture. Can't have that long hair like samson or jesus. So, liberty must endorse the roman culture-didn't they kill jesus?

[HockeyMom]

6. I am guessing they wouldn't like a Sinead O'Connor

on a woman either. There was a time, when I was first married, where I had almost a crew cut and my husband's hair was almost down to his shoulders. He worked as a programmer at NYU, and the techie people back then, were very much out of the mainstream. They would not have been caught dead in a suit and tie! Look at what Bill Gates, et al., look like from those days.

[hifiguy]

7. Nose hair?

If a male had nose hair 1" long it would be a Chaplin/Hitler moustache.

[daaron]

24. I got that far, and that was all she wrote!! Oh boy! nt

[get the red out]

8. Women's leg hair

If someone got close enough to see if a woman had leg hair, wouldn't that get them expelled?

[maxrandb]

37. Grooming them for the transparent Faux News desk!

Have to be able to see morning dew, don't ya' know?

[Permanut]

9. Thanks for posting, Captain...

This bizarre stuff needs to be kept in the spotlight, not because of its National Enquirer nature, but because these wackjobs want to run the country.

Edit to include K & R

[longship]

10. All the women must wear big hair from the early 60's

Like Janice Crouch of Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN).

Sorry, don't know how to post a pic on an iPhone.

[kentauros]

28. I don't know how to post a pic from an iProduct, either

However, on my desktop, I can post your typical beehive bouffant image:



The bigger the better!

[PA Democrat]

31. Can't help you with your iPhone, but here's a pic of Janice Crouch.

[longship]

38. That is it

Rmoney, looking at an audience half full of women, all looking like that, might not be tempted to give them haircuts.

Otherwise, Willard Scissorhands comes out!

[SwissTony]

11. So, Jesus wouldn't be allowed? nt

[nanabugg]

35. Nope! And he would be demeanded for hanging around 12 men all the time half naked.

Again...they would only pay attention Jesus' words if they were designed to hurt someone. The RW evanelicals really only believe in the Old Testament God of wrath. For the most part, they should not even be called Christians because their lives reject the teachings of Jesus. Most of them should be called Paulitans.

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. Is there a Student Affairs Deans’ Nosehair Review Subcommittee to monitor this?

[Quantess]

14. Fashion Police Strike Again.

Fashion police are by definition superficial. Fashion police belong in fashion shows and our fashion magazines. They have no business intruding into our everyday lives.

Judging people by their personal style is about the laziest prejudice I can think of, right up there with judging who you are by your weight.

[kentauros]

29. I'm curious,

are the Fashion Police any different from Home Owners Associations?

[Amaril]

15. tofurkey..............partly responsible for Sept. 11

Really? I heard it was Paula Dean's Turducken that made the terrorists want to destroy America RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!!!.

It never ceases to make me sad that these asshats have managed to gain such a loud -- and shrill -- voice in our national discourse.

[cali]

16. I just read the entire LU handbook. Ask me anything.

[Posteritatis]

26. God, why? (nt)

[riderinthestorm]

32. Did they mention female mustaches? Unibrows?

Can't have any of that I presume??!!!

[Wise Child]

17. Falwell didn't allow "Socialists" on the faculty

Which I assume would be "Marxist Critics", something common and generally non-threatening in a state university. He would state this in the same orientation session as he would proclaim that he would shoot any boy found in a girl's dorm building. That would be his idea of a joke. He was serious about applying discipline in a serious matter, however.

I wonder if he was one of those conservatives who was secretly envious of the Soviet Union only for it's police state?

On topic: Some schools like Liberty U. Forbid their students to put cuffs in their blue jeans, I guess it looks too beatnik-ish. It's the only way to wear a pair of 501s. (not the only way that would be authoritarian like Liberty U.)

[XemaSab]

18. Right now being a fundamentalist Christian is countercultural

I worked with this big blonde Mormon kid who had gone to BYU for a semester. He left in large part because on school ID picture day, he and his friend got up, shaved, and went to class. At around 2 in the afternoon they went down to where the pictures were to be taken, and the people behind the desk insisted that he and his friend go shave again. Apparently in 6 hours their beards had grown unacceptably long! The people at the desk gave each of them a cheapie disposable razor, a can of shaving cream, and a little towel, and told them to go shave in the bathroom across the hall. Of course they came back for their pictures nicked and bloody, but apparently being nicked and bloody in your student ID is better than having a blonde two-o-clock shadow.

[cherish44]

19. So I guess Jesus wouldn't be allowed there

He had long hair like a dang hippie you know. Love the nose hair rule. I took a ruler to measure and an inch of dangling nose hair allows for some pretty generous grossness. As far as the leg hair on women, does that apply to underarm and bikini area too? Do they do inspections? Perverts.

[pstokely]

40. Only the masculine republican Jesus would be allowed there

nt

[snooper2]

20. Students can still shave their privates

in the shapes of crossbones and hearts

[Capt. Obvious]

22. I thought it was the crucifix shape

[Capt. Obvious]

23. I love that the banner ad on this thread is for Liberty University

[gratuitous]

25. Commencement address or job interview?

Mitt's unemployed and looking for work, after all.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Sorry, Brah. I cut my Nose Dreads for No Man.

[Raine]

30. "counterculture"???

[tabasco]

36. What a freak show.

This is where AWOL Bush got all of his US attorneys.

[HughBeaumont]

39. "What about me, son?"

Doesn't pass muster, sorry . . .