On Friday, February 5, the FHS Student Government finalized the plans for the FHS graduation robes after a student poll showed that almost 69% of those who voted support having each student choose between blue and white for what color graduation robe they want to wear.
Student government allowed the student body to have the final say in the matter. After several weeks of discussion, they gathered the most feasible and popular options in a Google poll where everyone could vote via Its Learning.
According to Class of 2015 President Conor Lemanowicz, FHS voted overwhelmingly for the option to have each student choose his/her own graduation robe color between blue and white.
“I was very satisfied with the result,” Conor said. “It was a compromise that was able to satisfy the vast majority of the student body. Ultimately our goal was to eliminate any gender discrimination in the robe tradition in a manner that would be acceptable for the students. I think we achieved that goal.”
Despite the popular vote, some students were left unhappy with the result.
Megan Rogers, the Recording Secretary for Student Government, said that the result “does solve the legal issue, which was the main problem, so I’m happy about that, however it doesn’t solve the social aspect of it as much as we would have hoped. But, it’s up to what the class of 2015 decided to do with it to really have its impact, and although we might not see the changes now, even 5 years from now, we will see the change, and that’s what really matters.”
This conclusion comes after a heated debate that surfaced over the issue back in November. The FHS Gay Straight Alliance began advocating for having one-colored robes in order to make graduation a gender-free ceremony and protect the privacy of transgendered and gender-questioning students.
The process, however, initially began in late spring of 2014 when Principal Peter Light began trying to come up with a change to the school’s robe policy in order to comply with a 2011 state law requiring schools to have gender-neutral policies.