For the first time at IU, there will not be a king or queen of the Homecoming court.
Changing the labels of Homecoming court from king and queen to royalty has been in senior McKenzie Mauer’s mind for more than a year.
Mauer is chair of the Homecoming steering committee for the IU Student Alumni Association. She and the rest of the association officially made the decision to change the court’s name last spring. It is being implemented for this year’s court.
The decision was based on feedback the association received from previous Homecoming court members, who wanted a more inclusive court label, which is now non binary.
“It’s entirely a student-led initiative because of the feedback that we’ve gathered from prior Homecoming court members,” Mauer said.
She said the association felt it was the right time to implement the change as they have to evolve with what students want since they are a student association. She said she hopes students realize the committee is listening to them.
“We heard them loud and clear,” Mauer said.
To Mauer, this change is part of IU’s ever-changing landscape. For senior and president of the Student Alumni Association, Kirsten Stenger, the change shows even though IU is an institution built on a lot of history, it is also an institution for students.
"The change is really all about inclusivity,” Stenger said.
Purdue recently decided to make this change, too. Although the association had been considering it before Purdue announced its change, Mauer said it was nice to have people to talk to about instituting the change.
She said the process of nomination and selection of the court is still the same. Students still have to be passionate and involved at IU, Mauer said. The only change is that it is more inclusive.
“It’s still two students who are most qualified from the court to become our Homecoming royalty,” Mauer said.
