Officials at Mercer University in Georgia are considering eliminating the titles of homecoming king and queen in favor of genderless “Homecoming Royalty.”
The proposal would eliminate the gender designations for the homecoming titles and also change the eligibility so that both “royalty” could be of the same gender.
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The current selection system for the homecoming court begins with nominations from student organizations. Co-ed organizations are allowed to nominate one candidate of each gender, while single-sex organizations may nominate one candidate. University faculty and staff narrow the list to four men and four women, who are then voted on by the student body, with the winners chosen as king and queen.
The proposed replacement system would compile a list of eight students regardless of gender, and the top two would be the “Homecoming Royalty.”
Mercer administrators were inspired to push for the change after a discussion with student leaders at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, which does not differentiate its homecoming court by gender, according to the Mercer Cluster.
“Kennesaw has a gender-neutral homecoming court, and they shared their market research with Campus Life and QuadWorks. This prompted us to find out the student body interest,” said Meredith Keating White, the associate director of campus life and student involvement, according to the outlet.
The university circulated a survey to students that asked them if they were in favor of the changes and whether or not they thought such changes would lead to more nominations for the position.
The campus newspaper quoted several students who expressed support for the effort, saying the titles of “king” and “queen” were “old tradition” and that they had “never been inclusive terms.”
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“It might place students in an uncomfortable position if they are nominated for the Homecoming court but do not feel comfortable using either of these labels,” one student said.
The university’s 2022 homecoming is scheduled for November 11-12.
