High school principal publicly shaves student's head to remove faux-hawk

On Sept. 23, high school senior Lucas Hull went to school in Batavia, New York, with a new haircut, a "faux-hawk" — short on the sides, longer on top, not quite a mohawk. He came home with a shaved head, and his family isn't happy about it.

A mohawk would have violated Notre Dame High School's dress code — the skinhead look apparently doesn't — but Hull tells WHAM 13 News in Rochester that he got prior permission for his new 'do. The assistant principal wanted to judge for himself, so he called Hull down to the cafeteria, offered Hull the choice of a haircut or going home, then proceeded to publicly shave off all of Hull's hair in front of his classmates, Hull's family says.

"I thought it looked good and I felt good about it and then he started cutting and it felt really bad," Hull tells WHAM 13 news. His mom, Denise Hull, says the school should have called her first, and says the principal's goal was public humiliation rather than just leaving her son with a bad haircut. Notre Dame, a private school, says its Board of Trustees has amended the school's policy to call parents first, and issued a statement on Monday asserting that "the assistant principal has since apologized to the student, his parents, and the school community for his error in judgment." Watch WHAM 13's report below. --Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up