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wednesday, may 15, 2013
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New dress code to focus on self-reflection, not hard rules Sera Tuz
News Editor
Graphic by Sera Tuz and Ariana Zhang
Beginning next fall, the Upper School dress code will replace hard-and-fast rules with broader guidelines. This is in an effort to promote gender equality and encourage self-reflection within the student body and the clothes they choose to wear. Although nothing is finalized yet, the new dress code will no longer have specific rules about the length of skirts, widths of straps, and even facial hair for boys. “[The new dress code] is more of a guideline,” said Laura Ross, Head of Upper School. “We are framing it in the concepts of our core values of honor, respect and compassion. A dress code should be about respect for yourself and your community,” Farid Matuk, Upper School Diversity Coordinator, approached Mrs. Ross in the fall to propose reevaluation. “[The current student handbook has] about ten things that only apply to girls, and the only thing that solely applied to boys was facial hair,” Mrs. Ross said. “[Mr. Matuk and other faculty] were worried that the way our dress code was structured, it was disproportionately focused on girls.” Jack Oros, Dean of Students, said it was the dress code’s language that needed an update. “The plan is to be gender neutral. As the dress code stands right now it really is female biased,” he said. “Although new rules are not currently in place, next year will serve as an experiment for these changes to the dress code.”
Library to renovate over the summer Ben Weinberg Managing Editor
This summer, as part of the school’s yearly campus audit and renovation process, Greenhill will make significant physical changes to the interior of the Montgomery Library. In addition to library renovations,which will include reworking shelves and workspaces throughout the building, the school has planned additions in the Fine Arts building and several other buildings on campus. According to Head of School Scott Griggs, the changes in the library will focus on the school’s desire to create more student workspace while redistributing the growing collection of resources and archives in a more efficient manner. Part of the plan involves creating a second floor in the southeast wing of the library, similar to the loft space in the Technology wing. This new space will be devoted to conference rooms and a new meditation room, freeing up archive
and shelf space downstairs. This summer’s renovations are an annual occurrence for the school: each year, a small percentage of the budget is devoted towards smaller-scale construction projects designed to enhance the campus. According to Mr. Griggs, this year’s projects are relatively light in comparison to those of recent years. The school had initially planned on renovating or even entirely reconstructing the track. However, due to the changes in Athletic Department leadership for the coming year, the decision was made to hold off for a year, allowing incoming Athletic Director Chad Wabrek to assess the situation himself and add his input. In addition to the library, renovation plans for the summer include improvements to Middle School lockers as well as a restructuring of MS computer labs in anticipation of the revamped Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program.
Photo by Madison Goodrich
SHELF LIFE: In addition to restocking books and reorganizing the main floor layout, the library will add a second-story loft to the wing pictured above, giving students a new study space.
There had already been discussions about how the guidelines were not enforced to the same degree by all faculty. “Mr. Oros would sometimes see [a student] was not in dress code, but he would know that they had been to four classes already,” said Mrs. Ross. “If every person is not invested in [the dress code], then there is no point.” Rather than have an arbitrary teacher call out these students, the new system will be more moderate. There will be conversations rather than confrontations about the clothing a student chooses to wear. However, with less restrictive rules, students may choose to take advantage of the more liberal guidelines. If a student chooses to consistently dress inappropriately, Mrs. Ross said she wants a close teacher or peer to talk to this student about why they are choosing to represent themselves this way. “Having a conversation with someone you already have a relationship with will be more about what you are trying to say about yourself,” she said. Once Mrs. Ross was on board, Mr. Matuk began leading a committee to discuss gender roles not only in the dress code but also on a larger scale. The committee, comprised of various faculty members, has met three to four times since the fall. “[The committee] talks about what we are trying to accomplish with the dress code. There was a question of if we really believe in it as a community,” Mrs. Ross said.
Over the course of the year, the committee worked on a proposal to give to the Upper School Leadership Team, which is comprised of administrators, department heads and team leaders. “They gave us feedback, and we now have a new proposal that we are going to take to Mr. Griggs,” Mrs. Ross said. When it came to making the decisions about what is important to keep in the new dress code, Mrs. Ross said she asks, “What are we trying to teach here?” “For any rule, there should be intentionality about why you have it, and I think that was the point when we were [reassessing] the dress code. I want to make sure that we have rules that we are actually trying to teach something through,” she said. By focusing on the school’s core principles of honor, respect and compassion, Mrs. Ross said she hopes students will take into consideration that they are representatives of themselves and the school and will dress appropriately. “I think if we have a dress code that says, ‘Dress with a sense of respect for yourself and others in your community,’ I don’t think people are going to come to school on the first day not wearing any clothes.” Rather than giving a long list of things that are not allowed, the guidelines will also be more focused on students reflecting their personalities positively.