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NEWS : STORIES
All Zeeland High School junior Stacey Spykerman wants to be able to do is wear T-shirts to school bearing the names of her favorite bands. As someone who works in a Zeeland, Mich., Christian music store, she's exposed to a lot of sounds
If a proposed amendment to Zeeland High School's dress code is passed by the school board, Spykerman's desire to wear shirts bearing the names of such Christian rock acts as Bleach and Skillet may lead to her suspension from Zeeland High. It would be a punishment much like the one dealt to 18-year-old junior Eric VanHoven earlier this month after he wore a shirt bearing the name of alt-metal band Korn to class. Reached at Jacob's Ladder, the Holland, Mich., music store where she works, Spykerman explained why the proposed amendment to the school dress code frightens her. "It's kind-of like they're making us believe what they want us to believe," she said. "And making us think like they do." A joint student committee is expected to recommend to the Zeeland School Board that all students returning to the high school next fall be forbidden from wearing T-shirts bearing the names of musicians and music groups, according to a report in Saturday's Holland Sentinel. This would mark a change from the school's current policy, which bans only attire that implies violence, obscenity or sexual innuendo. The possible amendment to the dress code comes as a result of the week-long suspension of VanHoven handed down by Assistant Principal Gretchen Plewes at the beginning of the month. VanHoven was said to have violated the school's policy, although his T-shirt bore simply the Korn name. Two other students were subsequently suspended for wearing shirts bearing the names of alt-rock bands Tool, Filter and Marilyn Manson, all acts considered by the district school board to be offensive in their musical content. Zeeland Public Schools spokesperson Jim Camenga would not comment on the students' resolution, saying that he had promised the students that he would not say anything publicly until the decision had been presented officially to the student body and a school board committee. The policy change was formulated by a committee of students and administrators who were asked by the Zeeland Board of Education on March 16 to evaluate the school's dress code and to recommend any changes. School Board President Don Van Singel gave the committee until the board's May 4 meeting to reach a solution. Van Singel and Camenga were uncertain if the issue would be addressed at the board's April 20 meeting instead. Reaction to the committee's recommendation was mixed in Zeeland. Tim Hoesch, a civil litigation and business law attorney who sat on the committee last Tuesday when it met with 195 students, said he thought that some members of the community may have reservations about the committee's decision, but that everyone should be satisfied that the system is working. "The ultimate issue is what the school board will say," Hoesch said. "Much time has been spent looking at the issue, and with all that collective intellect, the solution and proposal will be taken very seriously." Although the community may be glad to hear that the group came to a solution, some Zeeland students are unhappy with the resolution. "I think it's really stupid that the school is trying to determine what we wear," said Josh Vugteveen, a 15-year-old sophomore at Zeeland High School. "The school's place is to provide an education, not to dictate what we wear." In actuality, few students are concerned with this issue, according to Vugteveen. "I'd say the majority of them could care less, because up to this point, it hasn't affected the shirts they wear," he said. "Next year, though, they'll be banned, and it'll be too late." Korn's manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, also finds the proposed resolution to the controversy misguided. "From what I know about the education system," he said, "I think that if educators are to have credibility with kids, they should be worrying about other things besides T-shirts." Kwatinetz also said he felt that the resolution was "an ignorant reaction by silly people" and that it was unconstitutional. According to Hoesch, however, the school is probably acting within its rights. "There is no question that the courts have ruled that speech in a school setting may be limited to a greater extent than in greater society," he explained. "Anyone who thinks different is wrong."
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