Mississauga students protest no-shorts policy during dress-down day
Posted May 29, 2015 8:03 am.
Last Updated May 29, 2015 11:47 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After an Etobicoke school made headlines this week when students wore crop tops to protest a teen being told to cover up, a similar situation happened in Mississauga on Friday.
Manuela Arbelaez, a senior student at Father Michael Goetz Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga, said the school banned all types of shorts for girls during dress-down day because of the crop top situation in Etobicoke. The vice-principal told CityNews later on Friday that it was all a miscommunication — the policy was misinterpreted to be about shorts but it was really about short shorts.
Many girls wore shorts and skirts that were of a “reasonable length” in protest during a dress-down day on Thursday, Arbelaez said. She added that boys joined in as well in protest by wearing shorts.
As a result, Arbelaez said “dozens of girls” and “only girls” were sent home to change.
According to Arbelaez and another student named Michelle, the vice-principal said she wanted to keep the students safe and told one student, Michelle, that she was “asking for it” because of her shorts.
Some students staged a sit-in on Friday morning but it got dispersed immediately, with the students being called in to the principal’s office.
Arbelaez said the ban promotes rape culture and that men should be taught not to rape instead of teaching women not to get raped.
The vice-principal told CityNews that it was all a miscommunication — the policy was misinterpreted to be about shorts but it was really about short shorts.
