Life isn’t fair, something all people learn sooner or later, but when unfair becomes double standard there are those who will speak out against the injustice.

On September 4, 2015, senior Parker Smith felt as though she were speaking out for just that, standing up for her body and against rape culture. Smith had been dress coded for a shirt that was deemed out of code, but to her it was part of larger issue.

“Your body isn’t something you can control and for the administration to act as if they were offended by it was so demeaning,” Smith said. “There should be something done, and I’m not saying the whole dress code should be changed, but it’s the way it’s enforced and how it makes girls feel.”

Smith is not the first person to be dress coded in the 27 years the school has been open, and she admitted to having been dress coded several times throughout her high school career. However, her experience sticks out due to how the situation was handled, but she is by no means alone.

“I was wearing shorts that were too short and while walking up the stairs to B hall I was pulled down by the collar of my shirt and demanded to change,” junior Marley Neth said. “It made me feel horrible about myself. I wasn’t a person at the time who felt very comfortable with their body and I thought wearing shorts was a step up for me, but it just made me feel immoral.”

Smith later posted her story to Twitter, after being pulled out of each class she attended that day by administration, sharing the full force of her outrage and discontentment. In response to Smith’s posts on Twitter, the administrative staff reacted in what they deemed to be the standard way of handling such situations.

“From what I understood about it was she was out of dress code and we handled it like we handle everyone,” principal Stephen Kane said. “I think it was no different than what we’ve done with everyone, I’m not saying everyone who is in violation gets caught but when we do notice it we deal with it the same way each time.”

Smith reported that the administration asked for her to take down the posts, but she refused to do so.

“That’s her freedom to do that,” Kane said. “There is nothing we can do, except ask her to do so.”

It took less than 16 hours for Smith’s story to become a hot topic on Twitter, and with that came a variety of response.

“I did get hate from it, but I also got a lot of support from people I didn’t even know,” Smith said. “One guy messaged me and told me that I had total support from his family. Yet, there were people calling me out for making a big deal out of nothing, but this is all part of a larger issue.”

When the situation became more than handling a dress code violation, Smith’s parents became involved and attended a follow up meeting held September 17.

“I was blindsided and had no warning that they pulled Parker into the office,” Parker’s mother Jennifer Smith said. “He had me on speaker phone with multiple people in the room and I didn’t have time to gather my thoughts. I was put on the spot which I thought was totally inappropriate.”

The administrative staff declined to comment on the meeting as it was a personal matter. However, Brandon Smith, Parker’s father, did comment on the larger issue at hand.

“I was hopeful that Kane would use this as an opportunity to address unfair policies within the school. Policies that are unfair to women in the school,” Brandon said. “It’s still a work in progress.”

While it is easy to focus on the largely debated issue of whether dress code is handled fairly or not, the true problem at hand is one that dates back beyond the women’s rights protests of the 1960’s.

“I was watching a documentary about women in the 60’s. In one scene they showed a protest for women’s rights and many of the problems they were talking about are still applicable today, which is just mind blowing,” Smith said. “But change is happening, I mean we can wear athletic shorts now.”

While the long-debated dress code for now remains the same, it is clear that there are those on campus who will act to induce change in its enforcement.

administration to act as if they were offended by it was so demeaning,” Smith said. “There should be something done, and I’m not saying the whole dress code should be changed, but it’s the way it’s enforced and how it makes girls feel.”

Smith is not the first person to be dress coded in the 27 years the school has been open, and she admitted to having been dress coded several times throughout her high school career. However, her experience sticks out due to how the situation was handled, but she is by no means alone.

“I was wearing shorts that were too short and while walking up the stairs to B hall I was pulled down by the collar of my shirt and demanded to change,” junior Marley Neth said. “It made me feel horrible about myself. I wasn’t a person at the time who felt very comfortable with their body and I thought wearing shorts was a step up for me, but it just made me feel immoral.”

Smith later posted her story to Twitter, after being pulled out of each class she attended that day by administration, sharing the full force of her outrage and discontentment. In response to Smith’s posts on Twitter, the administrative staff reacted in what they deemed to be the standard way of handling such situations.

“From what I understood about it was she was out of dress code and we handled it like we handle everyone,” principal Stephen Kane said. “I think it was no different than what we’ve done with everyone, I’m not saying everyone who is in violation gets caught but when we do notice it we deal with it the same way each time.”

Smith reported that the administration asked for her to take down the posts, but she refused to do so.

“That’s her freedom to do that,” Kane said. “There is nothing we can do, except ask her to do so.”

It took less than 16 hours for Smith’s story to become a hot topic on Twitter, and with that came a variety of response.

“I did get hate from it, but I also got a lot of support from people I didn’t even know,” Smith said. “One guy messaged me and told me that I had total support from his family. Yet, there were people calling me out for making a big deal out of nothing, but this is all part of a larger issue.”

When the situation became more than handling a dress code violation, Smith’s parents became involved and attended a follow up meeting held September 17.

“I was blindsided and had no warning that they pulled Parker into the office,” Parker’s mother Jennifer Smith said. “He had me on speaker phone with multiple people in the room and I didn’t have time to gather my thoughts. I was put on the spot which I thought was totally inappropriate.”

The administrative staff declined to comment on the meeting as it was a personal matter. However, Brandon Smith, Parker’s father, did comment on the larger issue at hand.

“I was hopeful that Kane would use this as an opportunity to address unfair policies within the school. Policies that are unfair to women in the school,” Brandon said. “It’s still a work in progress.”

While it is easy to focus on the largely debated issue of whether dress code is handled fairly or not, the true problem at hand is one that dates back beyond the women’s rights protests of the 1960’s.

“I was watching a documentary about women in the 60’s. In one scene they showed a protest for women’s rights and many of the problems they were talking about are still applicable today, which is just mind blowing,” Smith said. “But change is happening, I mean we can wear athletic shorts now.”

While the long-debated dress code for now remains the same, it is clear that there are those on campus who will act to induce change in its enforcement.