Every seat was filled in Mrs. Gibbens’ room this morning during the student senate meeting. Any stragglers that came in had to stand by the door as they listened to student body president Mira Bohannan Kumar. It was a busy and boisterous discussion to start of the first meeting of the year. The main topic on the table was planning for upcoming homecoming events, and more specifically, voting for homecoming court. 

In the past, homecoming court has been voted by having fourteen girls and fourteen guys voted on by the student body. However, students have expressed concerns about how this excludes non-binary students. Last year, students had the option to change their gender category after being voted onto the court, or opt to be in a third category. The discussion at today’s meeting, however, debated whether or not to abolish gender categories altogether. Another suggestion was to have approximately ten girls and ten boys voted into the court, and then eight students voted on regardless of gender. Some students argued that abolishing gender categories would make voting confusing due to large class sizes; however, others argued that meeting a gender quota was pointless and exclusionary. 

‘It’s more important for everybody to feel comfortable with the voting than for everybody to be happy with it,” Amerika Dunbar ‘21 said. 

City is the only high school left in the district still using a gender quota based system for homecoming court. West and Liberty use systems similar to senior superlatives. However, City students disliked that idea since it was too similar to senior superlatives, which already exists in a different context (or something to this effect). 

What the future voting system will be is yet to be decided and will be further discussed in next week’s meeting as the senate prepares for homecoming. September 25 will be the parade date and the dance will be on the 28. Student senate meetings are open to all students who wish to attend on Wednesday mornings at 8:15 in Mrs. Gibben’s room.