StuCo Continues Dress Code Discussions
Deliberations for a new, gender-neutral dress code proposal continued during Tuesday’s Student Council (StuCo) meeting. After one of two options written by the Policy Committee two weeks ago, it was chosen for revision and will be presented to the faculty with a StuCo endorsement.
Both proposals provided choices of professional attire for males, females or nonbinary students. The winning option mandated the wearing of a dress shirt, sweater, turtleneck, dress or ethnic attire at all required appointments.
Because this dress code does not necessitate the wearing of a tie for any gender, many students perceived a general loss in formality. To make up for that, and to maintain a professional dress code that upholds Policy Committee’s rationale, much of the evening’s debate centered around the decision to ban or allow flannel shirts.
“The issue of the dress code gets people really passionate, so it’s important that we have discourse about all aspects of it, so we are all happier with the result.”
Policy Committee co-head and senior Emily Lemmerman said that, despite the somewhat tedious nature of the discussion, the minor details were vital to address. “All conversations like these take a long time,” she said, “and it’s a step in the right direction to see everyone so engaged.”
StuCo president and senior Benj Cohen agreed. “It was definitely productive [to have this discussion], even though it was a small topic,” he said. “The issue of the dress code gets people really passionate, so it’s important that we have discourse about all aspects of it, so we are all happier with the result.”
A straw-poll vote decided that flannels should be expressly prohibited, as the majority of students present at the meeting determined that they did not reflect the seriousness of purpose associated with the Academy and its academics. However, the vote was surprisingly narrow.
Lemmerman expressed frustration that some students “were voting from the perspective of wanting what was most comfortable and not what was truly professional and best represented our rationale.”
“It’s hard to separate what your constituents want and what is really best for the school and the dress code,” she continued.
Despite some frustrations, Policy Committee co-head and senior Sachin Holdheim said that the debate was “good” and “fruitful,” and ultimately showed that the student body “generally favored… formality over comfort.”
Aside from the dress code discussion, StuCo is also planning to change their social media presence, particularly on Facebook.
Additionally, they will be hosting an assembly on Feb. 27, which will resemble the forum discussion about goodness held earlier in the year. A topic for the assembly has not yet been determined, but Cohen confirmed that the format will be similar, working to incorporate voices from various groups in a school-wide setting.
Interested students will also continue a discussion with Academy Chief Financial Officer David Hanson about potential changes in PEA’s bookstore contract.
More notably, a proposed revision in learning software has received attention in StuCo. Cohen said that they hope to work to design a singular system that will accommodate the many needs of students. In its most recent stage, this involved taking recommendations from constituents, holding discussions, emailing students at other schools and talking about other systems in an effort to make the best recommendation possible.
“The main thing that seemed to come up was that people really want one central hub for all of their information. That manifests itself in the form of a calendar, and the calendar has layers for each club, class, school-wide event and personal component,” Cohen said.
The system would ideally be simple and clear, allowing for changes and updates to the “calendar” at any time. Because information has become so decentralized and each student has “a thousand different log-ins,” Cohen saw a singular calendar as a helpful solution that would likely impress and help the student body.