Petition calls for NDSU to change homecoming policy to elect 1 king and 1 queen

FARGO — A petition started last week calls for North Dakota State University to alter its homecoming election policy and require the university to select one king and one queen to represent the school's royalty.

The move comes nearly two weeks after NDSU announced it had selected two kings for 2023 homecoming royalty. It was the second time in three years two male winners were chosen after the school altered its policy around the election process.

Under a new process implemented in 2021, kings and queens for homecoming each year are selected in two phases. The first part includes nominations and an interview process open to the student body. The second part includes a 12-member pool, or court members, and student body votes during homecoming week.

From there, the two top vote recipients are crowned homecoming royalty, regardless of gender. In 2023, junior Zachary Quirk and senior Connor Dilse were elected.

“Students are really excited for our two winners as they represent our overall Bison pride and are involved with a number of clubs and organizations on campus,” said Laura McDaniel, associate vice president with university relations.

In the petition created Oct. 5, creator Landon Allex said the move is not to "undermine or invalidate (Quirk or Dilse), it's rather a petition to institute a policy change for future elections."

While Allex in the nearly 600-word petition said it's a small issue, "the little things matter and we should not ignore them."

The election of homecoming royalty has become more of a popularity contest, he said, despite its "important tradition."

"We would choose one man to represent what it means to be truly masculine, and one woman to represent what means to be truly feminine," Allex said. "It is true that men and women are fundamentally different, and there should be two separate titles to recognize them."

Allex said NDSU has avoided the gender issue by choosing to remove gender from the tradition. While the change in policy was voted on by the student body in 2021, the vote was held in the aftermath of COVID-19 and "does not likely represent the ideals of the students today."

In a Facebook post announcing the two male winners this year, most of the posts seemed positive, however the selection of two kings for homecoming was met with some criticism.

In a post containing a collection of photographs entitled "Loud and proud about homecoming since 1890," one person said "At least in this era, we were smart enough to have homecoming king and queen."

Another person stated "I guess NDSU didn’t think they had any women worthy of the title….they had to choose 2 dudes. Where are the feminists who fight for equal rights for women? Anyone who thinks this is normal is actually fighting for men’s rights, not women’s rights."

Allex said more should be expected of NDSU in the future. "It is a shame that the women of NDSU did not have a representative in homecoming royalty this year."

As of Wednesday evening, Oct. 11, 174 people have signed the petition, including 136 this week. In the only two comments in response to the petition, supporters stress the importance of tradition in instituting a policy change.