A fresh Student Government dynamic brought, among other changes, the return of elements from the traditional dance court system. The return comes less than a year after a more fluid system replaced Roseville High School’s years-old setup. This year, dance courts will again consist of five princes, five princesses, one king and one queen.

Despite good intentions to recognize student merit regardless of gender, last year’s court system inspired backlash and lost student interest. On top of that, the fluid ratio led to female-heavy courts and a disinterested male student body.

Student Government responded to last year’s student complaints in this year’s change. Their response is the second right decision in an effort to craft a representative court with the students’ support.

Students didn’t get sentimental about the traditional court until it was gone, which some might call an overreaction. But students were turned off from last year’s system due to initial confusion and its effect on gender ratios, even if it was a change made with precisely them in mind.

Student response and the limited experience we had with this system were enough to tell that it wasn’t a necessary measure to accomplish its goal of inclusion regardless of gender, and that it was geared to accommodate complaints that didn’t exist. Few called for a more representative court before Student Government made the switch. After the switch, many said the gender imbalance constituted less representation instead.

However, this isn’t to say the change last year was for nothing, because the traditional system and a more diverse selection aren’t mutually exclusive – the drastic change itself might have misse d the support of students, but the message was heard and hopefully courts to come will strive to have more diverse and representative selections.

This return is the second right decision. The first right decision was experimenting with a more progressive system, because despite failure it pushed the discussion of diversity and fairness of courts into the spotlight. It seems combining the best of both systems – the diversity of the tried system and the familiar ratio of the traditional system – will work to gather greater support and participation from students than those of either prior system.