FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Fayetteville Public Schools (FPS) is one of the largest school districts in the state and recently made changes to its dress code.
“This past spring we involved community members, parents, staff, and administration, and we just pushed that out this year… It is pretty standardized across all buildings now, and it does include legislation from the CROWN Act,” said Dr. John Mulford, FPS Superintendent.
CROWN stands for “creating a respectful and open world for natural hair”. The CROWN Act protects students from discrimination based on natural, protective, and cultural hairstyles.
Mulford thinks the new act is a “great thing.”
“I think being respectful of people's backgrounds and cultures is something we should all be cognizant of, and it goes back to just treating people right… and treating people the way we want to be treated,” Mulford said.
In preparation for the first week of school, Fayetteville hairstylist Ashtone Dixon spent the weekend styling students… and she's glad there's a law in place to protect them. Dixon believes in the importance of the act in an educational setting, as it is usually a discussion in corporate settings.
“When you look at the actual black and white, [the CROWN Act] does have a line discussing in schools and along the lines of bullying. When things like this arise, which I've had clients who talk about their kids having problems with kids touching their hair, and being bullied, I think that both administration and families need to understand that the Crown Act as a law provides support,” Dixon said.
College students stepping back on campus this year, can feel safe knowing they can wear protective styles such as braids, dreadlocks, twists, locs, afros, and more without discrimination.
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS) is embracing the act by making sure that their policies and procedures align with the new law. UAFS Chancellor, Dr. Terisa Riley, says the act is an opportunity for people to show respect for each other.
“Ultimately, at the institution, we want to do that as well. We've taken the opportunity to look through all our policies and procedures, we've changed some of our procedures and documents for, say, student handbook or student-athlete handbook since that time,” Riley said.
UAFS's changes to the student-athlete handbook surrounding hair come after a 2019 incident when a former men's basketball player accused the head coach of singling out people with dreadlocks.
Riley wants to make sure no student goes through that again, so the handbooks have also been changed to ensure that this new law is reflected in them.
“We changed our student-athlete handbook, and any references like in our employee handbook to appearance or to clothing, we just made sure that we remove any references to where we understand obviously, that hair is one way of expressing yourself and showing your pride and your culture and heritage, and we want to be sure we honor that as well,” Riley added.
She says this new legislation will further promote the type of inclusive environment she strives to maintain at the university.
“At the university, we want every student to know how important they are to us, and that we respect their culture and heritage and want them to share it with us openly. And… we want to learn from each other. And I think this act actually helps us to do that,” Riley said.
The Crown Act does not apply to private schools or workplace environments.
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