Malley Center Responds to Backlash

Gym crop top ban sparks national news coverage

Maura TurcotteTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 25, 2016

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]tudents were outraged when first year Grace DiChristina was asked to leave Malley Fitness Center earlier this quarter for wearing a stomach-exposing top.

After taking to Facebook to publish a status expressing her frustration, The Santa Clara published an opinion piece written by Austin Dierks on the issue, denouncing the university’s sexist policies. And from there, the topic only gained momentum. The Santa Clara University chapter of Her Campus, BuzzFeed News, USA Today College and Seventeen Magazine ran stories about the incident, gathering much of their information from DiChristina’s Facebook post and the opinion article.

In her status, the first year said that she was unaware of any dress code policies at the university gym that she had violated. DiChristina said she had talked to the supervisor of facilities at Malley, who in turn told her that her outfit was inappropriate not only because it put her at risk to  potential exposure to MRSA, a staph infection, but also because Santa Clara is a Jesuit institution.

According to Janice DeMonsi, the director of recreation at Malley, the fitness center policy cited in DiChristina’s removal requires that students cover their midriffs.

“For hygiene and cleanliness…,” the policy states. “All participants’ midriffs must be covered (no sports bras; participants must wear a t-shirt or tank top).”

DiChristina was upset and said that the policy unfairly targeted women.

“Muscles tees with long armholes are extremely popular for men,” she wrote in her Facebook post. “If you walk into Leavey Center, the first thing you see is that the gym is packed with men sweating directly onto the equipment… Why are women being singled out and punished…?”

DiChristina was also angered by the fact that the employee who asked her to leave referenced the university’s religious affiliation.

“The fact that this is a Jesuit school should absolutely not be linked to the dress code at the gym,” DiChristina said in her post. “I do not go to the gym to be sexualized or looked at by other people... Being told to leave the facility because my outfit is inappropriate is more than just annoying; it’s humiliating and degrading.”

In the media frenzy that followed, the university was adamant that the policy was in no way related to Santa Clara’s Jesuit identity.

Tina Vossugh, the assistant director of media relations for the Office of Marketing and Communications, told BuzzFeed News that the policy was not inspired by any Jesuit values and that she did not have any knowledge of the conversation that took place between DiChristina and the Malley attendant.

Despite the scrutiny, Malley has not implemented any immediate policy changes. According to DeMonsi, Malley told weight room attendants to “police” bro tanks that are “over-cut.” However, there is no new written rule that prohibits students from wearing bro tanks.

However, Malley is looking to possibly change its policies in the near future. DeMonsi said that the the current policy was first implemented when Malley opened in 1999 and that it was intended to “prevent excess sweat from getting on equipment.”

“We have begun surveying other universities about their shirt policies and hope to have some good data moving forward in the next couple weeks,” DeMonsi said. “(We) will also be creating an educational campaign around MRSA and why it is important to wipe down your equipment and not share towels.”

In terms of how the media portrayed DiChristina’s removal and the subsequent backlash, DeMonsi said she wished that writers had done more research.

“This is not a policy unique to SCU. Of 19 schools surveyed to date, 18 have a shirt policy for their recreation center,” she said.

Additionally, DeMonsi did not want the student worker who asked DiChristina to leave to be named or blamed for the incident.

“The issue at hand is the way (our policy) is currently worded to be gender specific and we are now working to change that,” DeMonsi said.

DiChristina did not answer requests to be interviewed for this story.

Contact Maura Turcotte at mturcotte@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.