School Unites Against List That Ranked Girls

By Anna Deem in News on Jan 29, 2011 7:30PM

At Oak Park-River Forest High School on Friday, hundreds of students donned black t-shirts with the word "RESPECT" on them in response to a controversial list--distributed in school and on Facebook on January 18--that ranked 50 girls by their appearance and sexuality. The list included sexually explicit descriptions, in addition to racial and ethnic slurs. On the back of the t-shirts was a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

Assistant Principal Cindy Milojevic told the Chicago Sun-Times that the t-shirt idea was created by a core group of female teachers who brainstormed together. "They came up with a great idea, and the whole school has bonded behind it," Milojevic said. 800 shirts were ordered, but on Friday morning another 300 were ordered after the supply failed to matched up to the demand.

"It's not about the person who wrote the list anymore. It's truly just about respecting each other," Casey Tencate, a junior, told the Sun-Times. "It's about how society has made it OK for girls to be portrayed in a certain way, and it's not OK, and I think that's the message that really needs to get out there." Milojevic said that the school is working hard on all levels to address the issues. "What happens in the hallway is a huge part of what happens in the schools, and we have some work to do," Milojevic said to the Sun-Times.