Tag Archives: dress code

Keep the dress code!

My old-fashioned streak is beginning to show itself over the debate emerging on the dress code that is being relaxed because one of our 100 senators just doesn’t like to wear a tie, slacks and a sport coat while he’s at work on the Senate floor.

Senate majority leader Charles Schumer wants the code relaxed because Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., doesn’t like the dress code.

I admit to being a fuddy-duddy when it comes to dressing respectably while doing the people’s business. I do not accept that Fetterman’s desire to work in a hoodie, shorts and sneakers must be the new normal for the Senate.

This happens in my mind to be an absurd reaction.

The dress code isn’t codified. There is no punishment under the law if a senator chooses to dress “casually” at work. The rules have been in place for a long time and until right now it rarely has come under examination.

We see some House members occasionally wearing just shirts and a tie while conducting committee business. Here again, why not just throw on a jacket and look the part of a serious lawmaker?

I am having trouble grasping why this is even a discussion topic. To my way of thinking, it all seems just plain silly.

Student gets diploma after breaking the rules

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ever Lopez has his high school diploma.

He got it today after a weekend story raised a ruckus over the North Carolina high school’s decision to keep the diploma from going to the student who violated a dress code policy during the commencement ceremony.

The story grew some wings. From my standpoint, Lopez made a mistake and he should have been sanctioned by the school.

Lopez sought to walk across a commencement stage at Asheboro, N.C., wearing a Mexican flag draped over his graduation gown. He wanted to express his pride in his heritage, as he and his parents emigrated to the United States from Mexico. Fine … except for this little thing: School policy prohibits students from covering their gowns in that manner.

Lopez could have honored his birth nation with a emblem plastered on his mortar board; Asheboro school district policy allows that. Lopez, though, sought to take it a step further.

Student gets diploma after controversy erupts over wearing Mexican flag at graduation – ABC News (go.com)

He walked across the stage, reached for his diploma but an assistant principal pulled it back.

Lopez and his parents have demanded an apology from the school district. Mom and Dad want to get to the bottom of the kerfuffle. My question is this: What the heck for?

The kid flouted a longstanding school district policy that didn’t have anything to do with the Mexican flag. It had everything to do with a policy that required all the graduating students to present a  uniform appearance during their commencement ceremony.

Why is that so difficult to understand?

Well, it’s not difficult. Ever Lopez sought to make some sort of statement. Maybe he just wanted to defy authority.

Memo to Ever Lopez: That kind of strategy ain’t gonna work when he launches his career in whatever field of employment he chooses. Someone sets the rules; you follow them or you’re out.