I loved dreadlocks long before I wore them, loved whatever I imagined they stood for, loved everything I thought they were supposed to mean. Before I grew my hair, a heartfelt question was lodged deep in my consciousness: “What would happen if a man who was, over the years, fairly consistent and quite conservative with his public persona, a man who was seen by his family, friends, colleagues and students in one particular way, suddenly exhibited himself in a way that ran radically counter to what people (thought they) had come to know in the years they knew him? What then?”

At Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia, MBA students are banned from wearing cornrows or dreadlocks, thanks to an edict from Business School Dean Sid Credle.