New Jersey

Rutgers Turns Business Students Away From Job Fair for Wearing Wrong Colored Clothes

New Jersey university's business school apologizes for rejecting students from job fair

Rutgers University has apologized after turning students away from a career fair for wearing the wrong colored clothing.

Rutgers Business School had been under fire for barring students from entering a job fair who wore attire that violated a new dress code. The stringent new policy forbids blue suits, colored shirts, brown shoes and other attire.

An online student petition prompted an apology from the school.

In a statement Thursday, Lei Lei, dean of the business school said the Office of Career Management in New Brunswick and Newark reached out to the students who were turned away to help them reconnect with recruiters. Lei also said the students would meet with school leadership next week on the matter, and that a review of the dress code was already underway.

"As a top public business school in the Northeast, we take great pride in our students, both academically and professionally," Lei said in the statement. "We regret that the actions at last week’s career fair adversely affected some of our students and cast a shadow over the success we have achieved in helping our students secure meaningful internships and jobs." 

"Our career management process is not perfect, and we look forward to working with our recruiters and students to further improve our practices, including the dress code guidelines," the statement continued. 

Administrators say the dress code change was in response to students who did not dress properly in past years. Senior Associate Dean Martin Markowitz says the school did not permit blue to avoid confusion with different shades.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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