Thurgood Mashall College Denies MBA Student Entry Because Of His Dreadlocks

By: Naturally Triece

When I saw the picture and heard about the story I honestly thought that this was just another white University denying an educated black man, for whatever reason that they could find. But once I did my own research I found it extremely interesting that this was a historically African American college that is well-respected and known for its prestige educational system.

Tamon George is an MBA student and the President of the Graduate Student Government Association at the University of the District of Columbia. The young man is said to be well dressed, swell spoken and very educated. He’d hoped to be able to one day attend the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institution.

This conference was said to have at least 500 of the most educationally elite students from 47 HBCU’s around the country. It was scheduled to take place in November of 2014.

The goal of this conference was to provide the students with the leadership and job training that they needed for internships with many Fortune 500 companies.

George was informed by the conference organizers that he would be denied access into the conference due to the fact that he had dreadlocks.

According to Urban Intellectuals:

George stated:

“After my acceptance, I was then informed that I had been disqualified based on my physical appearance. I was informed that The Thurgood Marshall College Fund has instituted a ban of “Dreadlocks” for male participants of the conference. Thus, my invitation to attend the conference would be contingent upon the removal of my hair.”

Cutting his dreadlocks wasn’t even an option for George, being that he wore his hair the same as his father and he felt that the hairstyle held some significance with his cultural identification and hereditary spirit.

What do you guys think about this? Why would the conference personnel feel that his hair is more important than his intellect and his character?

I think it’s sad that he was given such a ridiculous ultimatum and I can’t help but wonder if other students with the same hairstyle were denied the same access.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

Naturally Triece