When graduates of Oak Park and River Forest High School attend graduation June 11, the girls will be required to wear long white gowns and carry a dozen red roses.
While many parents and students have found this to be a glamorous tradition, in an era when many girls favor baggy jeans on normal school days one of the school’s top candidates for valedictorian disagrees.
Genevieve York-Erwin, 18, says she does not like dresses, does not own one, and does not plan to wear one for graduation.
If so, said school officials, she won’t be able to participate in the ceremony with her 600 classmates or deliver a valedictory speech, as she likely would be asked to do..
Associate Principal Albert Sye said school officials will not change or bend the dress code, a tradition that has been around almost as long as the 125-year-old school.
As graduation approaches, the dispute is generating petition drives and a clash of opinion in the near west suburbs.
York-Erwin, who will attend Yale University this fall, said she has collected approximately 1,000 signatures from students, teachers and parents in support of her position–though some students who support her also think the gowns are beautiful and will gladly wear them.
But Sye said attending the graduation ceremony is voluntary–“icing on the cake for graduating seniors”–and not mandatory. If students wish to skip it, he said, they may.
“It’s a long-standing tradition,” Sye said. “It’s a tradition worth keeping. The unified appearance creates a pageantlike ceremony. It’s not antiquated. The uniformity gives it a first-class flavor.”
He said the community loves to see the kids decked out and that the tradition is maintained because “it is apropos for the community and it is the will of the people.” The school maintains rules on commencement attire.
Boys are required to wear a navy blue, charcoal or black sports coat and trousers, white shirt, red tie, dark dress shoes and dark socks. No bow ties and no mix-matched coat and trouser combinations, please.
The girls must wear ankle- or floor-length white–no ivory or pastel colors–dresses with skirts “full enough to allow comfortable and graceful marching and sitting.” White shoes must be worn and white sweaters are allowed if it is a cold evening.
York-Erwin called the dress code anachronistic and oppressive in an era when women in business and other spheres freely wear pants.
“I don’t like being forced to conform because of my sex,” said York-Erwin, a quiet-spoken woman who ponders questions before answering. “I think most people would choose to wear a dress, but it should be an option.
“I worked very hard for four years, and I think I should be able to go to my own graduation and that shouldn’t be contingent upon wearing a dress,” she said.
The student’s mother said she supports her daughter, even if it means missing out on the ceremony.
“It pleases me to see an issue that is important enough for her to pursue with this energy,” said Nancy York-Erwin, a market research analyst. “It’s archaic. We are in the ’90s and we are in Oak Park.”
Two weeks ago, York-Erwin and senior Shelley Goldman approached Sye with the possibility of wearing white dressy pants with white blazers instead of long dresses.
When the school officials said “no,” the students began a petition drive to change policy.
“I’m not ideologically opposed to dresses,” said Goldman, 17, who will attend Oberlin College this fall. “I think the ceremony is beautiful, too, but for traditions to continue to be meaningful, they need to be meaningful to everyone.”
And that means an updated policy allowing more choices, she said.
A survey of other schools in the area indicates that virtually all have some sort of dress code for graduation–and do not let students participate who don’t comply–but that most require considerably less formal attire.
Joliet Central High School bans tennis shoes and shorts, but doesn’t require suits or gowns. Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s cap-and-gown policy requires collared shirts for boys, but girls are allowed to wear either dresses or slacks. Female graduates at Highland Park High School are asked to wear light colors under their white gowns.
New Trier High School, on the other hand, has a long tradition of more formal attire, with long white gowns and white shoes for the girls, and black tuxedo pants, black shoes and white dinner jackets for the boys.
Larry Rehage, New Trier’s senior adviser chairman, said the school keeps a limited number of jackets on hand for students showing up without proper wardrobe. Those who refuse the loaners won’t get their diplomas until after the ceremony, he said.
“The kids do know that if they’re not in the proper attire, they’ll not be allowed to walk in the ceremony,” Rehage said. “But in the years I’ve been involved, I’ve never seen that happen.”
