Mrs. Mellnick scans the throng of students dashing towards their next class. She is keeping an eye out for dress code, which could entail an exposed shoulder or perhaps shorts that are too short. “This is a place of academics and students need to dress appropriately,” Mrs. Mellnick, assistant principal, said. The dress code policies have seen a rise in enforcement. This can be accredited to a more prominent search for dress code violators, since last year when dress code enforcement slackened. Mellnick also said that this enforcement can be accredited to the need for students to dress more professionally in preparation for jobs and life. Though this may be the belief held by the administration, students opinions differ.

Liam Steadman, junior, feels that this is an topic that delves into the rights guaranteed by the Amendments.”I feel that it restricts our freedom of speech. I’d like to wear a banana hammock,” Steadman, junior, said.

Generally though, it can be said that some of the student body feels a bias towards females, and the rate females receive dress code violations. “It’s super subjective and bias towards women,” Donovan Butler, junior, said. And he among others isn’t the only one that holds this belief. “I think its sexist. I also think that men don’t get dress code as much as women,” Mary Picone, sophomore, said. Expressed her feelings of dress code bias directed towards women, However, Mellnick challenges this with her statement that, “Plenty” of boys receive dress code, but primarily for hats and sagging pants.

There are also some students who agree that Plant is an environment that should exude professionalism, this refl ecting in attire. Charley Brannan, sophomore, said, “I think [dress code] is fair for both genders even though there are differences because it refl  ects a professional environment.” Stuart Lindquist also shares this viewpoint, but feels that the teacher enforcement isn’t prominent enough for there to be an issue. “I think the dress code is fair especially because teachers are so lax about it,” Lindquist, senior, said.

One wanders though if teacher enforcement will truly solve the problem of dress code. “One time I almost got dress code for my cheer uniform. And I’m a cheerleader,” Talley Murphy, junior, said. “Does Plant even have one?” Natalie Ulm, freshmen, questioned when asked her opinion on dress code.