A Superior Court judge could rule this week whether the sophomore honors student's hair violates St. Raphael Academy's "educational mission."
10/16/2002
PROVIDENCE -- The case of 15-year-old Russell Gorman III vs. St.
Raphael Academy reached a head yesterday.
A blond one, poking above the courtroom witness box, sporting a jelled
flattop and a foot-long ponytail.
And while William T. Murphy, a lawyer for the Catholic school, insisted
"this issue is not about hair, the issue is about a private school being
allowed to make its own rules and regulations," much of Courtroom 15 was
focused on follicles.
At one point, Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. leaned
closer toward the boy on the witness stand and described for the sake of
the court stenographer the litigious locks in question.
"His hair appears to fall six, seven, eight inches below what would be
the bottom of his shirt collar. Would you gentlemen agree with that?"
Murphy stood up from behind the defendant's table: "Yes, your honor."
The boy's lawyer, James P. Howe, did the same: "Yes, your honor."
Tangled amid these strange tendrils of courtroom dialogue was a real
issue:
Is the Pawtucket school's new hair policy -- adopted this summer with
the young Gorman in mind -- arbitrary and thus illegal or can the school
force Gorman to abide by it or face expulsion?
Since he was in kindergarten, Russell Gorman has worn a long ponytail,
say his parents, Russell Jr. and Kimberly Gorman, of East Providence.
And for all of those years he attended Catholic school, Woodlawn
Catholic Regional in Pawtucket.
"I sent him there to learn Christian values," Russell Jr., holding his
son's annual class pictures, said prior to yesterday's hearing. "When
you go to church on Sunday, they don't stop you from receiving the
Eucharist for long hair, and for nine years Woodlawn took my money and
his hair wasn't a problem. Now it is."
The problem started last year when Russell entered St. Raphael as a
freshman.
Though he had attended the school's orientation without his hair raising
any hackles, once classes began, school administrators told him to cut
it or face expulsion.
Outraged, the Gormans marched into Superior Court seeking a restraining
order.
"He's never had his hair cut in all of his life," his father said. "It's
who he is. Why should he have to change his appearance for them? If they
had it [the hair policy] in the contract first off that guys had to have
short hair, then we would have never sent him there. We never wanted to
go through this."
Last year, Fortunato granted the family the restraining order, saying
that when Russell entered Saint Raphael, the Pawtucket academy had no
hair policy.
During the summer, the school administrators drafted one.
As well as requiring all students keep their hair "clean and
well-groomed," it prohibits "outlandish hair styles" including "any
designs, lettering, mohawks [and] ponytails."
The policy states that any boy's hair that extends beyond the bottom of
his shirt collar violates "the school's educational mission and will not
be tolerated."
Brother Daniel Aubin, the school's principal for the last two years,
defended the policy last week before Fortunato.
According to a transcript of his testimony, Brother Aubin said, "We are
looking to try to establish a culture within the school that is
value-based, that is shared, that is common, that provides the level
playing field for all of the students."
Doing so, said Brother Aubin, "helps us to prevent distractions from
happening because of differences."
What if there was no hair policy rule, Fortunato asked Brother Aubin.
Would there be a distraction then?
"Yes," said Aubin, "because the person would stand out significantly
from the rest of the student body . . . The person would draw attention
to himself."
Brother Aubin said: "I think we try to create a team spirit, all right,
that we're in this together. We have common shared values. It's a school
spirit type of thing similar to maybe, being, you know, in the Army . .
. "
RUSSELL GORMAN took the witness stand yesterday wearing his school khaki
pants, white polo shirt and a sweatshirt with the school's crest over
his heart.
In an adolescent's monotone voice, he described himself as an honors
student who enjoys playing basketball for his school and a student who
appreciates the environment St. Raphael offers.
"I do well there. I like the students there. I like the teachers."
He said his hair, as far as he knew, had never distracted his classmates
from learning and was never a health issue, anymore than a woman's clean
hair would be.
In response to a question from Fortunato, he said his basketball coach
last year never made an issue of his hair.
Murphy treated Russell gently during cross-examination, emphasizing the
boy's admitted appreciation for the culture the school offered.
Afterward Murphy asked Fortunato for a quick dismissal of the suit,
arguing no evidence had been presented that the hair policy was
arbitrary or capricious.
Fortunato denied the motion, noting that no one seemed to have any
problems with the boy's hair and the school had provided no evidence it
had interfered with its educational mission.
Murphy argued, however, that a private institution has the right to
promote the kind of culture it wished to enrich its academic environment
-- even if that includes limiting freedoms of expression. He noted that
military academies enforce similar hair policies.
Fortunato said courts don't usually intrude on private organizations
unless there is an arbitrary action that has the effect of unfair
oppression. And he noted that military schools could defend their hair
policies easily on safety grounds: long hair could get caught in
weaponry, for example.
"Ultimately this case is not about fashion," Fortunato said. "It's about
power. If it [the school] can make one boy cut his hair, it can make all
the other boys grow their hair long. That's arbitrary."
Fortunato may rule on the case Friday.