Y'all can't put them ...	Y'all can't put them cowboy hats on, they might offend
Y'all can't put them cowboy hats on, they might offend
by Lewis Pennock Published October 12, 2018 Published Oct 12, 2018
STUDENTS have been banned from wearing cowboy hats on nights out — because they could be deemed 'offensive'.
Stetsons and sombreros are included in a long list of fancy dress attire ruled off limits by Kent university student union leaders.
But critics branded them 'ten-gallon prats' for drawing up the rules, which have been introduced to protect the rights of students to a 'safe space'.
'I'm pretty sure there aren't any professional cowboys in Kent, and even if there were, they'd have far bigger problems to deal with than students wearing fancy dress,' said one critic.
Another added: 'The wet, professionally offended liberals strike again. The idiots making these silly rules up have just moved out of their parents' bedrooms and are acting like power crazy Hitlers.'
Dressing as a 'chav', 'Tory Boy', priest, nun or native American has also been outlawed. But the union lists cave people, aliens, Ancient Greeks and Romans and doctors and nurses as acceptable attire.
The guidelines, drawn up for students at the Canterbury-based campus, state fancy dress outfits should not be 'offensive, discriminatory and prejudicial to an individual's race, gender, disability or sexual orientation'.
And costumes that slight social class will 'not be tolerated', it adds. Students are also banned from dressing as Jimmy Saville, suicide bombers, Nazis, transsexuals, the Prophet Muhammad or any sexually-explicit costume.
'We empower students to be creative, whilst also ensuring all students feel welcome and safe,' the guide says. The union would not comment on criticism of its rules.
July 17, 2019Evening Edition