Tara Larson'07

A town meeting was held on Thursday, April 7, to evaluate the dress code, primarily to review the girls' dress code re-vamping which occurred two years ago. This included the introduction of the polo shirt as appropriate class dress and the removal of cargo pants, rivets, and spaghetti strap tops.

The meeting found that the girls' dress code is not taken seriously and is a factor in the division between female and male student status.

"The admissions office has received comments from prospective students and their parents who want to know why the girls do not have a dress code when the boys do," said Associate Director of Admissions Debra Dohrmann.

Katherine Robertson, the freshman class dean, agrees. "In Grand Central Station when a boy walks off a train dressed in loafers, khaki pants, a shirt, tie, and navy blazer, he is identified as a Deerfield boy. Deerfield girls have no identifying dress. It has been said that girls will never be a part of Deerfield culture until they meet the standard and expectations which include the way they present themselves. I'm not saying I agree with this, but it certainly is something to consider," Ms. Robertson said. This brings up the question of the dress code. If it is indeed a way to represent and identify our selves and our pride in

Deerfield, then, as Wendy Bradley-Terwilliger, the junior class dean and student activities coordinator asked, "Why aren't we able to police ourselves?"

Students are not even abiding by the guidelines for class attire when they are showing Deerfield to the world and future members of the academy. With this in mind, those at the town meeting tossed out ideas about what the main issues with the dress code are and how to overcome these problems.

It was decided that the two most important goals at this time are to simplify and enforce the dress code. "The dress code has to be all or nothing. The rules can't be enforced half-heartedly because then no one will take it seriously." said Meredith Kotowski '06.

Since the most frequent violations of dress code are wearing plain t-shirts and pants with rivets to class, the best ways to confront these issues seemed to be to add a new rule that would include the requirement of two layers when girls wear dress pants. This second layer could be a sweater or blazer and would have the same guidelines for wearing that the boys' blazers have.

On the other hand, to enforce the no rivet rule, the change has to come the from the teachers and a new willingness to enforce class dress. Most community members agree that the main reason dress code is not enforced by teachers is twofold. The teachers do not want to personally insult any student and do not want to waste class time by sending a student back to his or her dorm to change.

Possible ideas to help this are the addition of "dress code points" which could be counted in a similar way to accountability points.

The meeting served as a first step, and these ideas will continue to come under discussion and eventually any changes will be proposed to the faculty for a vote.