By: Camille Willbrandt

Ali Pierce ‘18 wakes up on a cold Monday morning ready for another day at Plainwell High School. As if Mondays aren’t hard enough, now, thanks to administration cracking down on a dress code that has existed for years, she can’t slip into a pair of her favorite yoga pants and be on her way.

It is this very topic – yoga pants and leggings – that has plagued the newsfeed of many people’s social media home pages. From paragraph-long rants to petitions with hundreds of signatures, there is no doubt that people are upset.

Page 10 of the PHS student handbook says under the Dress and General Appearance section that “clothing must not be too tight, too short, too sheer, or too revealing whether standing or seated. This includes tights, yoga pants and leggings as deemed inappropriate by an administrator.” This rule has sat in the often-forgotten handbook for the entire year, and only now is it being enforced.

“Individual attempts to change the way students were dressing were not working,” explained Assistant Principal Deb Burley. “There was not a formal process for documenting who was violating what. So I now have a Google document that I can keep track of student dress code violations. Maybe this year the pants are more popular or maybe more and more students were getting away with it so I implemented an all school attention to the matter.”

“All I wear are yoga pants,” said Lexi Milani ‘15, founder of the Change.org petition to remove the ban of yoga pants and leggings. “I only have one pair of jeans, and most skinny jeans are just as tight as yoga pants, so there really is no problem.”

People seem to agree with Milani, as her petition currently holds 340 signatures and multiple comments from supporters. The comment section ranges from PHS graduates, to students, and even their parents.

In fact, at a previously scheduled town-hall type meeting held at the administration building on Tuesday, Oct. 28, many parents sat in to tell Superintendent Susan Wakefield how they felt.

“There were maybe 10 different parents there,” explained Pierce, who attended the meeting herself. However, only about half of them were there about the dress code. “There were about four or five students there, too. Mrs. Wakefield would listen to everything the parents were saying, but there wasn’t much she could do.”

This seems to be how a lot of students feel at the moment. Another petition was circulating through the cafeteria on Tuesday, but this one ended with all of its signers in one of PHS’ auditoriums, where Burley held a meeting that afternoon.

One result of that gathering is that representatives from each grade will be on a committee to review the dress code for next school year, according to Maiah Lesher ‘14 who was there.

“She also said things about how we were letting the school down and that she was just trying to give us a better school life,” Lesher said. “She said that because we’re all minors, we can’t wear whatever we want. A lot of girls started speaking up and saying how it’s not fair that girls aren’t respected, and how we shouldn’t be punished because guys can’t focus.”

“I sent a pass to about 60 girls to meet me in the auditorium for a positive discussion,” Burley said. Based on what the girls were saying, it came to my attention that they were gravely concerned about being objectified.”

Girls made the fact that they deserve enough respect to wear yoga pants clear by covering the bathrooms around school with different posters.

“Welcome to Plainwell High School, where boys are entitled to a ‘distraction free’ learning zone, and girls are humiliated and sent home,” one sign read.

“When you interrupt a girl’s school day to force her to change clothes, or punish her for wearing yoga pants that cover her body the same way jeans do, you are telling her that making sure boys have a ‘distraction free’ learning environment is more important than her education. Instead of shaming girls for their bodies, teach boys that girls are not sexual objects,” read another.

Girls aren’t just being told to change. They’re being suspended, and in large numbers, too.

“I wore a sweater with some yoga pants and boots,” said Kari Havenaar ‘15. “Then I got pulled out of class and Burley asked me why I wore my yoga pants, then she told me I had a one day in-school suspension for insubordination because of my attitude.”

Some girls were luckier and only got a warning. It is this inconsistency that has led to multiple phone calls and e-mails awaiting Burley (approximately seven just from angry female students), but she has an explanation.

“Students in ISS were assigned that for insubordination. I gave each student due diligence to explain why they chose to violate the dress code after being given a reminder of the dress code. Depending on the response and the attitude with the response was the determining factor for the ISS,” said Burley.

She said that the outcry from students wasn’t a surprise. What might shock students is that people in favor of the ban actually exist.

“I have received more comments from parents that are in support of the school for enforcing the dress code. This situation is similar to the dancing rules we changed last year,” she said.

“I feel like if Burley is trying to get girls to respect themselves, then she should find another way other than by telling them what to wear,” added Havenaar.

“What’s most frustrating is that girls aren’t wearing yoga pants to be cute or get guys’ attention,” said Lesher, “we wear them because they’re comfortable.”

Pierce has some advice for administration. “Stop overthinking this rule. Just let us wear yoga pants and it will be fine.”