December 12, 2025 

I asked 120 Copley

students if they’ve been

dress-coded.

37 said yes.

How many of those were women? Back in September, I did some interviews regarding our dress code. The results didn’t surprise me. I interrogated Sophomore Lawson Robinson about how well he knows the dress code: “Not very well, because I’m not a girl.” When I asked senior Ben Yacknow his opinion on our dress code, he said something similar. “It’s alright. I’m not a woman though.” Almost every interview had mentioned something about being a woman before I had even asked any questions regarding gender. That has to mean something. When I asked him to elaborate, Yacknow took his response further. “The dress code creates a bias towards women, and it makes it harder for them to conform to the standards that they need to meet.” 

I wanted to explore this idea of bias in our dress code. I asked junior Piper Koberna about her opinion. “I don’t agree with it, I think it’s extremely biased towards females. I’ve gotten dress coded many times. Girls shouldn’t be discriminated against for wearing what is most comfortable.” When I asked senior Amelia Davis her opinion, she hit the nail on the head. “I think it’s a little biased. Guys walk around with their pants sagging but they don’t get dress coded. Girls can show a little shoulder, and it’s immediately sent to the office.” 

On page 27 of the Student Code of Conduct, the dress code is listed under Rule 16. It’s obvious that there are some rules (16.3, 16.5, and 16.6) that are targeted towards girls. Go read them for yourself and tell me those aren’t clearly about women’s clothing. If I were going to deep dive into each of those specifically, I’d need a lot more room. However, the lines that spiked my interest the most were these: “Students...shall not dress in such a way as to substantially interfere with the conducting of a class or activity...Any appearance creating a disruption or distraction to the educational process is prohibited.” Any good teacher should be able to create an interesting enough lesson so students don’t get bored and stare at somebody’s new LuLu leggings. I don’t think it’s the clothes that are the distraction, but it’s the body underneath the clothes. 

Being told my body is a distraction not only makes me uncomfortable, but makes me wonder if I’m even the problem. If we determine that a woman’s body must be covered up in order to focus, is it truly the woman’s fault? Or is the fault of eyes that linger too long on women and not long enough on their math homework? As a professional female for almost 18 years, it is clear to me that any dress code was created to avoid male distraction. But is this even a problem nowadays? Davis said it herself: “What teachers view as bad is wearing shorts that are too short or stuff that is showing a little too much, but students? I don’t think they view it as bad because it’s the norm. [The students] see it out in public...I’ve never seen somebody get distracted by what someone else is wearing.” 

Why is it that we have a dress code that repeatedly draws more attention to girls’ clothing being a distraction (how short shorts are, how low cut tops are, if clothes are too tight) instead of teaching our students how to focus around these “distractions?” Considering that students will eventually move on to futures that might not have a dress code, and require skills to focus beyond the people around them, wouldn’t a more effective preparation for their future include learning how to self-manage around distraction? A female centered dress code is not only encouraging a future of distraction- It is teaching young women to first be concerned with what they are wearing (and if their bodies will cause a problem) before they worry about their education and their future. 

I need everyone at Copley to reconsider the bias of the dress code. We need to teach students that their bodies are not a problem, and provide students with the skills to focus despite unavoidable distractions. However, the dress code isn’t always bad. Nobody wants to come to school with people looking like they’ve stepped out of a Doja Cat music video. Lots of people actually appreciate the dress code, like senior Ian Schlarb. “I like it. I like that we’re able to wear shorts in the winter. I like that, because, you know, I’m stupid like that.” Schlarb can wear shorts whenever he wants, as long as they cover his mid-thigh. 

By the way...out of those 37 people that were dress coded, only 2 were men.