Hundreds of Enloe students wore tank tops, crop tops, and the color red on Tuesday Sept. 2 to protest the school’s stricter dress code enforcement. 

On Aug. 22, Enloe Principal Dr. Jordan announced via Talking Points that students this year must comply with the WCPSS Student Dress Code, which states, “Students must wear clothing that covers their skin from chest to mid-thigh with opaque (non-see-through) fabric in front, back, and on the sides.” 

This shift in enforcement came as a shock to many students, as Enloe’s dress code was not as strictly imposed in years prior. 

To enforce the policy, administrators “dress code” students by stopping those in violation of the code and redirecting their clothing choices. Since the start of the school year on Aug. 25, students exposing their midriffs, or breaking the dress code in other ways, have been dress coded, leading to controversy within the student body. 

According to the official WCPSS dress code, enforcement actions should be “discussed discreetly and out of earshot of other students to the extent practicable,” yet some students said the display is not private. 

“[An administrator] was looking people up and down while standing in the carpool lane, and she called me out in front of several other people … there [were] people walking by and walking in and out,” said Tanya Urs, a sophomore who was dress coded because of her shorts.

Additionally, per the guidelines, enforcement of the WCPSS Student Dress Code should “be applied fairly and consistently without regard to race, gender, or other inherent traits or characteristics.” 

However, fashion trends popular among girls are more restricted by the dress code than those among boys. Dr. Jordan said females tend to wear crop tops more often than males, so more females are getting dress coded. This gender disparity has still led much of the Enloe student body to consider the dress code sexist, prompting Tuesday’s protest. 

Senior Moksha Bookahalli wore a red, cropped tank top to school on Tuesday.

“I wanted to show my support for protesting the dress code,” she said when asked about her clothing choice. “I think it’s one matter to have a dress code, but to be enforcing it the way [Enloe administrators] have feels extremely unfair and discriminatory towards girls.”

Junior Maya James, who also wore a red tank top, agreed. 

“The dress code itself might be beneficial,” she said, “but it just wasn’t fair, how it was targeting girls.”

A similar event occurred at Enloe four years ago. In 2021, a video circulated of a female student being dress coded, and Liona Stebbins (class of ‘24) urged others to wear tank tops as signs of resistance. 

“I’m not surprised, but it is disappointing,” Stebbins said of Tuesday’s protest. 

She said the protest was “a double-edged sword,” adding, “I’m glad that students are still taking action and … organizing, but at the same time, it is kind of sad that I am a sophomore in college and it’s still going on.”

Though Stebbins’ work inspired Tuesday’s protest, the context of the two events isn’t exactly the same. 

“We are giving more feedback and more reminders and more redirection on dress code than we have in the last four years,” Dr. Jordan said, “and where that comes from is noticing a need for that.” 

Last year, “it felt as though [dress code violations were] pervasive, that [they were] egregious, and we … questioned whether or not we were being the administrators that we wanted to be by not providing that support,” she added. 

Some people believe the dress code is to prevent distraction, but “I don’t think students in general are distracted by outfits,” Dr. Jordan said. 

Instead, Dr. Jordan said the dress code enhances student professionalism. 

“We’re preparing students to adhere to certain standards when they’re in a working environment,” she added. 

Students and teachers have mixed reactions to the dress code. 

“[The dress code is] disappointing coming from a school that prides itself on self expression and acceptance of others,” said the organizers of the protest via the Instagram account @enloedresscode. 

Those leading the outcry chose to stay anonymous, instead spreading their message via social media and word of mouth. A green, upside-down hanger was used as a symbol of the protest in social media posts and an online petition. The original announcement garnered massive support from the student body, receiving close to three hundred reposts and over a thousand likes. The Eagle’s Eye reached out to the organizers, but they declined to interview for privacy purposes.

“I’ve been protesting my whole life, and I’m just not the kind of person who can sit around and see something so terrible happen to people I love,” said Tennyson Florer-Bixler, creator of the @standwithenloe Instagram account. 

Florer-Bixler goes to Sanderson High School, but wanted to show support to protestors at Enloe by encouraging other students across Wake County to dress out in solidarity. This isn’t the first time Florer-Bixler has protested school policy. This past year, she led a successful effort to keep her school choral program from being shut down.

Mr. Lewis, a longtime Enloe teacher, said the dress code can be difficult for teachers to enforce. 

“It puts us in a frankly, really awkward position to be policing that type of stuff,” he said, “especially because it cannot be done consistently.”

While Ms. Covington, another Enloe teacher, agrees, she also sees merit in the dress code. She said an outfit’s level of appropriateness can be determined by its setting.

“If you say [an] outfit is not appropriate for school, I think that’s different from saying [an] outfit is inappropriate,” she said. “To say [an outfit] is not appropriate for school is not necessarily saying there’s something questionable about your character.”

Though Dr. Jordan said the protest is symbolic of Enloe’s unique culture, Mr. Bagwell, a teacher at Enloe, said activism isn’t unique to the school. 

“All young people rebel,” he said. “They should, because that’s how they make the world what they want it to be … Speaking truth to power is something we should all be encouraged to do.”

Dr. Jordan encourages students and parents with questions or feedback on the dress code to email her at [email protected] or join her for her 7:30 a.m. Coffee Talk at Union Special on Sept. 16.