Dean of students Dr. Jennings Davis presented a petition to executive VP Howard A. White, signed by all department heads (including religion chair Frank Pack), proposing that the dress code preventing female employees from wearing pants be eliminated. There was no dress code for male employees. White, who would later become Pepperdine's fifth president, said he would forward the petition to the Board of Trustees, who had had ultimate say over the policy.¹

The dress code had been implemented by Norvel Young, who feared that the school would alienate the churches if it were too permissive. Women students had only received permission to wear pants to class in 1969.²