I really liked the article-- I think it was playing on the stereotypes of profs who lose their "give a damn" after tenure, or at least the references to age might indicate that. I am not a prof, but have T.A.'ed so I don't feel too bad jumping in. Seeing all the ladies on the forum in academia is really refreshing, and from the student's perspective I can tell you we really do notice and appreciate the current, well fitting clothes. I have heard the profs in my department discuss the students-in-pyjamas problem in the past and I honestly wanted to tell them that the whole "showing respect through the way you dress" thing goes both ways. So way to go ladies!
On the lighter side, I thought I would share a few of my worst and best dressed prof stories:
Best dressed goes to a photography teacher of mine. Despite being 6' or over she still managed to always come to class looking great. Very american classic-- black cigarette pants, white button downs, cascading cardis, ballet flats-- mixed in with bold accessories and trendy items (like shutter ruffle t-shirts).
Second best sadly goes to a 60+ Native American prof that wore mostly crisp western wear.
All time worst probably goes to the prof that came to class with her hair wet everyday, wearing a sheer white blouse with a bright green jog bra underneath. Maybe it was the fact that she routinely answered phone calls from her high school aged child in class that made me feel that she didn't care about class.
The second was probably the prof that wore the same pair of dirty levis to class everyday all semester (they had an identifiable stain and he wore them at least 3 days a week). He wore the same two lime green and orange polo shirts too.
The third was probably the one with the ripped jeans that you could see his underwear though.
I also had the prof that wore polyester wrangler dress pants with matching boots and skinny ties and shirts from the 70s.
Then there was the one prof that always came to class covered in what appeared to be mud and motor oil-- this was particularly odd because he was an education prof.
I loved the pill comment!