Student Council In Talks of Dress Code Reform

By JACK CASSIDY, ADELLE PITTS and FORREST ZENG

      At the weekly Student Council meeting on the evening of May 7, Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon presented a draft proposal of a new dress code to assembly members and answered questions about the draft.

      Although the presentation was only a draft that will undergo further changes in the future, it is the latest update in a year long initiative by faculty and students alike to address the apparent incongruence with the dress code in the E-book and practice. The current dress code outlined in the E-book requires a “dress shirt, sweater, turtleneck, [or] dress,” yet it seems to have become a relic of pre-Covid Exeter. The new draft presented by Weatherspoon reinforces the central elements of the current dress code, eliminates athletic wear including sweatpants, hoodies, and shorts, and sets out clear guidelines for hemlines and top straps. The draft also included an enforcement system, by which teachers are obligated to report dress code violations through a form, instead of sending students back to their dorms.

      “This new draft was motivated by several factors,” Student Council Policy Committee co-head Dylan Richardson said. “At its core, it looks bad to have a rule in the E Book that is not enforced.”

      The dress code initiative has been primarily driven by a faculty committee headed by Weatherspoon. Richardson described, “The committee met for fifty minutes every week for a few weeks, deliberating at each of the early morning meetings about the content of the code. The committee was made up of eight faculty members and one student.” A co-head of the Student Council Policy Committee was present at each meeting to present student concerns and opinions.

      A handful of members in attendance questioned the essential premise of the new draft. Weatherspoon denied that the dress had any connection to student performance in class, instead underscoring the role that dress played in the connection between teachers and students. “When you are in a classroom, you are there not only with your fellow peers, but also the teacher,” Weatherspoon said at the presentation. “That is centrally what this dress code is about.”

      Richardson understood the new draft as an attempt to return to more formal attire. “The committee would like to return the academy to a ‘more formal’ attire,” he said.

      Weatherspoon explicitly noted in his discussion that the dress code was not intended to return to a certain formal style of dress, but instead a dress code directed towards providing an academic environment.

      Some students agreed with Weatherspoon’s sentiment. Lower Jinmin Lee agreed that a dress code should be enforced, but emphasized making sure that both students and faculty agreed on the standard before anything is passed. “I think it will reduce the pressure that students feel choosing their clothes and also reduce the pressure that they feel in terms of a class basis and socioeconomic status, as some may feel as though the clothes they wear reflect the amount of money they have, which I don’t think is a good thing. I don’t want students to be stressed by that.”

      Lower Samuel Altman commented, “I believe that when you dress nicely, you expect yourself to act better. We have lost a sort of authentic responsibility that comes from wearing nice clothes.”

      However, Richardson, along with the large majority of the Student Council believe that the student body should have a voice in what they’re allowed to wear under the premise of a student-centered experience. “The Policy Committee agrees with the stance of the proposal regarding language and imagery on clothing,” Richardson said. “We also agree that it is not good to have unenforced rules written in the E book.”

      “Where we differ most visibly is the content of the attire featured in the dress code proposal,” Richardson continued. “The understanding of the Policy Committee co-heads based on what we have seen at various Student Council meetings, is that students are broadly against the banning of t-shirts, hoodies, tops with straps, and the showing of midriff. This is not to say, of course, that there are not students of all opinions on this issue, but based on who we have heard from so far, this is what we are hearing.”

      “When Dean Weatherspoon spoke at the Student Council, students raised their hands about pretty much every bullet point,” Student Council Vice President Anna Holtz described.  “Every single student had something they didn’t like about it in all different areas.”

      A regular point of discussion during Weatherspoon’s presentation at Student Council was the topic of straps for students’ tops. The draft stated that there would be “[no] strapless tops or tops with straps less than two inches wide,” referring to the shoulder straps worn with upper body tops.

      Weatherspoon explained that the requirement stems from a general faculty opposition to so-called “spaghetti straps.” He acknowledged that “nobody is going to pull out a ruler during class. It’s simply apparent what is two inches and not.”

      Additionally, there were concerns over the possibility of students having to change their entire wardrobe for the dress code, a matter that presents financial concerns as well. Weatherspoon noted that all students have to change their wardrobe regardless of dress code, such as buying coats for winter. He also noted the financial aid the school already offers for clothing, and mentioned the possibility of selling dress code compliant wear at the bookstore.

      The draft dress code will now head to further discussion with faculty and the student council Policy Committee co-heads, at which point it will become a proposal. It will then require a majority in a faculty vote to pass.

      “We are going to try and get involved before that happens, and create an alternative option to present to faculty,” said Holtz.

      “Students should have representation and influence when it comes to the creation of a new dress code,” Richardson concluded. “The Policy Committee will not stop working to ensure that students feel comfortable with whatever ends up happening with this initiative in the future.”