DALLAS

At beleaguered Paul Quinn College, the self-proclaimed oldest historically black school in Texas, Michael Sorrell should be the most unpopular man on campus.

Named president this month after serving as the school's interim since March, Sorrell has already ordered a business-casual dress code for students and made class attendance mandatory.

Sorrell even decided in football-crazy Texas to save $600,000 a year by cutting the football program and, he chuckles, "lived to tell."

The charismatic 40-year-old Sorrell a lawyer, businessman and political consultant admittedly lacks the traditional academic background of a college administrator. But he is winning converts among the student body, who say his full-speed-ahead approach to fixing Paul Quinn is just what the school needs.

"Some students say he is just trying to do this for publicity," said Kenneth Boston, the student government president. "Go sit down and talk with him one on one. Get to know him. Then you will understand what he is doing and why he is doing it."

The change that brought the most attention is the dress code, announced in a letter to students on the college Web site and in an op-ed piece Sorrell wrote for The Dallas Morning News. From Monday to Thursday, students can't wear jeans, flip-flops, sneakers, T-shirts, pajama bottoms or sweats outside the dorms. The rules allow for slacks or skirts and collared shirts. On Friday, jeans are permissible and so are T-shirts, so long as they display Paul Quinn or Greek logos.

Sorrell means business. Late for a meeting with student leaders and hustling from his office to the student union on a recent Friday, Sorrell stopped to bust a student whose yellow shirt bore no college or Greek logo. He sentenced the student on the spot to community service. "Seriously?" the student said.

"He's preparing us for the business world," said Laquasha Drisdale, a senior and the student government chaplain.