By Avery Maier, ’13, Contributor
“[The dress code] is going to continue for the year if students adhere to the new guidelines. I do worry about spring,” said Upper School Head Stephanie Luebbers. “If we thought we would be changing back, we would be talking to Student Council about any potential changes.”
The dress code was proposed by Student Council members and accepted by the administration shortly before Winter Break. The new policy allows students to wear modest crewneck sweaters and T-shirts if they are wearing a non-zip-up sweatshirt on top. Whether these new regulations are being followed correctly or not is up for debate.
Dean of Service Learning Deborah Floyd believes that although the dress code is frequently disobeyed, the recent changes are here to stay.
“It is the best of dress code and the worse of dress code—the gentlemen look absolutely lovely in their crew-neck sweaters, [but] the ladies, have a much looser (literally) interpretation of no collar/crew neck, wearing V-neck T-shirts that are very low cut. The student body controls this—if they don’t honor the changes, then I would imagine they will be revoked,” she said.
While Ms. Floyd said she doesn’t feel that students are following the dress code, many students said they feel the exact opposite. Allison Mesh, ’13, justified the new additions by saying, “I really hope they stay because I know lots of people who have purchased new sweaters and if they couldn’t wear them without collar-less shirts anymore, then they probably would no longer wear those sweaters. If those people didn’t wear those new sweaters anymore, then that would just be a complete waste of money.”
“I think that [the dress code] is working out well,” Olivia June, ’13, said. “Besides the first couple of weeks when people didn’t fully understand what the new dress code was, I haven’t seen anyone going against the rules of the dress code. Hopefully this will show the administration that we should be allowed to keep these privileges.”
“I don’t want to jinx it, but right now, it seems like [the dress code additions are] working out,” US Student Body President Xanni Brown, ’10, commented.
US Student Body Vice President Isaac Guttman, ’10, was at first worried “because some similar changes had been revoked a few years ago after students repeatedly broke the new dress code, but I think everyone has made an effort to enjoy the changes without taking advantage of them.”
Senior Dean of Students Fred Carey said, “It’s been my observation that most of our students typically exercise both good judgment and good taste with respect to their clothing choices, and that they’re fully capable of dressing themselves everyday without a lot of help from the administration.”
However, Mr. Carey doesn’t believe that the dress code “works all that well.”
“Part of it is that fashion trends shift very quickly and so almost any dress code is always at least two steps behind the latest clothing rage. Another part of it is that nobody wants to play dress code cop, and so it tends to fall mostly to the deans to play the role of dress code enforcer, something that gets old very quickly,” Mr. Carey explained
Mrs. Luebbers said she agrees that the dress code is constantly changing because teenagers wear all different styles.
“Part of being an adolescent is the need to express individuality. As educators, we face the dilemma of wanting students to express individuality but also needing to have some global restrictions on school-appropriate dress,” she said.
Overall, students are very excited about the changes to the dress code.
“I love the new dress code!” June said. “It’s so much easier just being able to wear sweaters without collars under them. I think that it is working out well.”
“Personally, I love how much easier it makes my mornings and the fact that I no longer have recurring internal conflicts over whether or not a fleece has a collar and if it doesn’t, whether I’m willing to take my chances,” Brown explained.
Brown not only likes the new dress code, but feels it to address a larger topic. “As Upper School President, I think the new dress code exemplifies the way that student council can take feedback from the student body straight to the administration and make changes that benefit everyone,” she said. “It shows what student council is here for and how effective the official process can be.”
Photo by Ilana Habib.