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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Bensprecher on 2024-09-27 13:46:34+00:00.

[Disclaimer: this is my father’s story from his college days, but I’ve heard it many times]

My dad went to WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) in the mid '60s, back when it was still all men. His dining hall was in his dorm, and apparently one year an ambitious new administrator got the bright idea that the place needed more class, and proposed a Jacket-and-Tie-Required dress code policy for dinner in the dining hall. The students were incensed, and the comment period was filled with universal objections and complaints, but the policy was imposed nonetheless.

The students were outraged, and fierce debates raged about how they were going to fight back against this bureaucracatic overreach. Boycotts? Sit-ins? What if everyone refuses to follow the dress code? They can’t just refuse to serve the whole student body! Discussion flowed deep into the night.

So, the first meal of the new policy arrives, and the dining hall staff (mostly women) opens up for dinner service. And, their eyes nearly pop out of their heads.

Waiting politely in line, the entire student body have come downstairs, and as required, they are all wearing jackets and ties… and nothing else.

Suffice it to say, the policy was quickly reversed, and no one has ever tried to impose a similar dress code on WPI students since.