Dana Scott / Winonan
This year, Winona State University has decided to remove gender from the homecoming coronation ceremony.
This will be the first year that the two students who receive the most votes will win, regardless of gender. There will be no title of king and queen for the awardees.
The idea to remove gender from homecoming coronation came from Annie Pendl and Megan Sticha. Pendl is a social work student at Winona State and has been on homecoming committee for three years, now serving her first year as coronation chair.
Sticha is a social work major at Winona State and this year’s homecoming court competition chair.
Pendl shared how this switch to more gender-neutral terminology concerning homecoming court is a trend happening at other universities around the U.S. and has been discussed on homecoming committee for a few years. Pendl and Sticha decided this year to make that a reality.
Officers of Winona State’s Full Spectrum club, Bekah Bailey and Nicole Moravec, were excited to hear about this change in homecoming this year.
The club is Winona State’s gender and sexuality alliance, and they provide a safe space for all students on campus to be themselves regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“It will get people to think outside of the gender binary that normally would not before,” Bailey and Moravec said. “Some people just aren’t even aware that some folks don’t identify as male or female and this change might challenge them to educate themselves.”
Bailey and Moravec believe this change will be received well and educate people on campus, however they still challenge the university to continue looking at how it presents the binary gender roles on campus.
For example, Bailey and Moravec and Full Spectrum as a whole are pushing to get a gender-neutral bathroom in every building on campus.
A few individuals who are running to be on homecoming court shared their views of this change. One of them is Marissa Roen, an elementary education student and UPAC special events on-campus director.
Roen knew about this change upon deciding to run for homecoming court and thought it was a wonderful change and expressed if someone is a good leader in the Winona community, gender should not matter.
“I think the concept shows the progressiveness that the world is making,” Roen said. “The fact that we get to be a part of it is such a cool thing.”
Senior Keagan Anderson, who is representing his fraternity in running for homecoming court, was excited to hear about the removal of gender from homecoming court this year.
Anderson believes the majority of Winona State students will love this change, however there may be a minority who will not share the view of the majority.
However, Anderson expressed some potential concern with this change.
“Winona prides itself on being an open and accepting community,” Anderson said. “But homecoming is for the alumni more than it is the current students, and many of them may be more traditional and wish to relive what homecoming was like when they attended WSU.”
Kailyn Olk, who is also running for homecoming court has similar concerns.
“I believe that it might be a shock for those who have generalized what homecoming is all about, the king and queen.” Olk said. “On the other hand they might be happy for a change in our generalized society.”
Coronation for the Homecoming Court will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9 in Somsen Hall, Harriet Johnson Auditorium.
-By Dana Scott
