The Upper School Dress Code Committee (DCC) recently announced an updated version of the dress code, which includes the allowance of T-shirts without logos, skirts and dresses that meet “fingertip” requirements for length, and leggings, as long as the top worn with them also meets the fingertip rule.

The DCC, which is comprised of three students, two faculty members and three parents, has been working since the beginning of the school year to create a new dress code, which the community feels to be more appropriate.

Upper School Dean of Students Kevin Williamson sent an email to parents and students on April 3 to broadcast the changes made to the community at large.

“When I had sent out a letter [at the end of summer] saying, ‘Here is what the new dress code is going to look like,’ based on some responses from some parents and students, we decided that after 15 years, let’s start over,” Williamson said. “Let’s wipe the slate clean and see what it is that we really are after as a dress code after all this time has gone by.”

Upper School mathematics teacher Lola Muldrew, a member of the DCC, mentioned that a main goal of the DCC was to make the dress code less strict.

“We looked at dress codes from other independent schools in Silicon Valley and California, and we saw this wide variety, and we really liked the language we saw in a few of them,” she said. “We really liked that it wasn’t so much about ‘do this, do that,’ like it’s punitive, ‘you’re bad for wearing that cute dress.’ There’s nothing bad about it, but there’s a dress code.”

The DCC looked at other school’s dress codes throughout the bay area, such as Archbishop Mitty, but came up with a new dress code based off of student’s, teacher’s and parent’s values of the Harker community. Mitty’s dress code states that “dresses & skirts (and their slits) that do not stay at least 6” from mid-knee” are not permitted, which is a more lenient rule in comparison to the Upper School’s previous dress code.

Muldrew did refer to the rules as somewhat arbitrary, but she emphasized the need to prevent inappropriate imagery on T-shirts, even as the rules become more lax.

“[T-shirts] can be plain, they can have stripes, they can be polka-dotted, but you can’t have a T-shirt with a cool, iconic figure,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how amazing that person is. You can’t wear a T-shirt with Albert Einstein on it, because that doesn’t match the dress code.”

Senior Glenn Reddy mentioned the new dress code’s wider variety of clothing options.

“I am thoroughly satisfied,” he said. “I’ve always been comfortable wearing polo shirts so it doesn’t really bother me, but I like having more options in that I do have some plain T-shirts, and adding a couple new things to the array of clothing I’m allowed to wear is nice.”

The DCC will continue its trial period until the end of May, updating the dress code along the way, depending on how students respond to the new rules. Questions can be sent to [email protected] or students can talk to a member of the committee.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on April 22, 2015.