kaorder1999
12-27-2007, 08:55 PM
Royse City student seeks Mustache Institute to combat facial hair policy
07:35 PM CST on Thursday, December 27, 2007
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
ksanderson@dallasnews.com
He's no Burt Reynolds, but Sebastian Pham is proud of the hairs that started appearing on his upper lip last year.
"I like my little mustache," the 15-year-old said.
A few whiskers couldn't keep him from learning, Sebastian insists. So he was mad when, on Dec. 11, a Royse City High School teacher pulled him and a few other boys from chemistry class and told them to go shave.
"I missed my whole chemistry class," Sebastian said. "I think that's a waste of time."
Some students contact the American Civil Liberties Union when they feel oppressed at school. Sebastian contacted the American Mustache Institute.
The institute is a mostly tongue-in-cheek Web site founded by Aaron Perlut of St. Louis to further the interests of the mustachioed.
"It's an attempt to revive the mustache in American culture," Mr. Perlut said by phone last week. "We don't take ourselves with great seriousness."
But Mr. Perlut was earnest when he sent an e-mail Dec. 15 to the Royse City school district asking officials to reconsider their policy.
The school dress code is clear: Facial hair on students isn't allowed. School districts in Texas may enforce rules on facial hair as long as they don't interfere with students' religious beliefs.
"Teachers are allowed to wear mustaches," Royse City schools spokeswoman Jo Nell Mellody said.
"We even have some women with some facial hair," she joked. "But we don't make them wax it."
The policy requiring cleanshaven students goes back as long as anyone can remember, she said.
Sebastian said he knew the rules but managed to get away with peach fuzz for more than a year before a teacher took notice. Running a razor over his cherished hairs raised his ire.
"I looked really weird," he said.
He hasn't shaved since and began searching the Internet for any law that might protect future whiskers. That's how Sebastian found the American Mustache Institute.
Mr. Perlut, who wears his mustache in the shape of St. Louis' famous arch, says he's been inspired by people including Alex Trebek. But Mr. Perlut seems more of an imitator of Groucho Marx. The institute's Web site says Mr. Perlut earned a doctorate in "nuclear mustacheology." He sometimes claims to be a shepherd and to have started growing his mustache when he was in elementary school. (He really works as a public relations consultant and started growing facial hair as a teenager.)
But when Mr. Perlut saw an e-mailed plea for help from Sebastian, he got serious.
"Any school district has the right to govern its student body," he said. "But expressing individuality with something as simple as a mustache would never be disruptive in the education process."
Mr. Perlut posted a copy of the e-mail to Royse City schools on the institute's blog. A few days later, in a move that seems akin to throwing mashed potatoes in the school cafeteria, he posted a response that he says came from someone within the Royse City school district.
The anonymous message says in part, "mustaches are gay."
Ms. Mellody said no one at Royse City ISD authorized the posting. It smells like a desperate publicity ploy, she said.
"This is just kind of nonsense," Ms. Mellody said. "I don't know where that's coming from. Nobody from our administration responded" to the e-mail, she said.
Mr. Perlut said the response originally was removed "because, quite frankly, we try to keep salty language off the blog."
It later was added again, he said, to cast light on the culture of the school district.
He wants to encourage more people to fight for the right to have hairy upper lips.
"The people we admire have stopped wearing mustaches" because of cultural pressure, Mr. Perlut said.
He called it "devastating" when Tom Selleck shaved.
"He was a pillar in the mustache community," Mr. Perlut said.
Even those with minor mustaches should stand firm, he said.
"There's no such thing as a bad mustache," he said. "It's all about the effort."
Ms. Mellody said Royse City school officials aren't considering changing their policy.
"It's never been brought up," she said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/12-07/1228mustache.jpg
07:35 PM CST on Thursday, December 27, 2007
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
ksanderson@dallasnews.com
He's no Burt Reynolds, but Sebastian Pham is proud of the hairs that started appearing on his upper lip last year.
"I like my little mustache," the 15-year-old said.
A few whiskers couldn't keep him from learning, Sebastian insists. So he was mad when, on Dec. 11, a Royse City High School teacher pulled him and a few other boys from chemistry class and told them to go shave.
"I missed my whole chemistry class," Sebastian said. "I think that's a waste of time."
Some students contact the American Civil Liberties Union when they feel oppressed at school. Sebastian contacted the American Mustache Institute.
The institute is a mostly tongue-in-cheek Web site founded by Aaron Perlut of St. Louis to further the interests of the mustachioed.
"It's an attempt to revive the mustache in American culture," Mr. Perlut said by phone last week. "We don't take ourselves with great seriousness."
But Mr. Perlut was earnest when he sent an e-mail Dec. 15 to the Royse City school district asking officials to reconsider their policy.
The school dress code is clear: Facial hair on students isn't allowed. School districts in Texas may enforce rules on facial hair as long as they don't interfere with students' religious beliefs.
"Teachers are allowed to wear mustaches," Royse City schools spokeswoman Jo Nell Mellody said.
"We even have some women with some facial hair," she joked. "But we don't make them wax it."
The policy requiring cleanshaven students goes back as long as anyone can remember, she said.
Sebastian said he knew the rules but managed to get away with peach fuzz for more than a year before a teacher took notice. Running a razor over his cherished hairs raised his ire.
"I looked really weird," he said.
He hasn't shaved since and began searching the Internet for any law that might protect future whiskers. That's how Sebastian found the American Mustache Institute.
Mr. Perlut, who wears his mustache in the shape of St. Louis' famous arch, says he's been inspired by people including Alex Trebek. But Mr. Perlut seems more of an imitator of Groucho Marx. The institute's Web site says Mr. Perlut earned a doctorate in "nuclear mustacheology." He sometimes claims to be a shepherd and to have started growing his mustache when he was in elementary school. (He really works as a public relations consultant and started growing facial hair as a teenager.)
But when Mr. Perlut saw an e-mailed plea for help from Sebastian, he got serious.
"Any school district has the right to govern its student body," he said. "But expressing individuality with something as simple as a mustache would never be disruptive in the education process."
Mr. Perlut posted a copy of the e-mail to Royse City schools on the institute's blog. A few days later, in a move that seems akin to throwing mashed potatoes in the school cafeteria, he posted a response that he says came from someone within the Royse City school district.
The anonymous message says in part, "mustaches are gay."
Ms. Mellody said no one at Royse City ISD authorized the posting. It smells like a desperate publicity ploy, she said.
"This is just kind of nonsense," Ms. Mellody said. "I don't know where that's coming from. Nobody from our administration responded" to the e-mail, she said.
Mr. Perlut said the response originally was removed "because, quite frankly, we try to keep salty language off the blog."
It later was added again, he said, to cast light on the culture of the school district.
He wants to encourage more people to fight for the right to have hairy upper lips.
"The people we admire have stopped wearing mustaches" because of cultural pressure, Mr. Perlut said.
He called it "devastating" when Tom Selleck shaved.
"He was a pillar in the mustache community," Mr. Perlut said.
Even those with minor mustaches should stand firm, he said.
"There's no such thing as a bad mustache," he said. "It's all about the effort."
Ms. Mellody said Royse City school officials aren't considering changing their policy.
"It's never been brought up," she said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/12-07/1228mustache.jpg