It was the moment when, as an alumnus, I visited a meeting of the Residence Halls Association, or RHA, and witnessed the official announcement by Kathy Collins, Director of Campus Living Services and Residence Life, that flexible housing would be available to students on campus in fall 2012. Flexible housing will enable sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students and transfer students above the age of 18 the chance to live with fellow Spartans regardless of gender.

It was a moment three years in the making. From the time my friend Mitch Rivard engaged the administration in 2009, to fall 2010 when Rachel Skylis, Ian Morrison and I founded Gender Neutral MSU and worked tirelessly to gain broad student support, to this year when RHA grabbed the baton and ran the last lap to the finish line.

The virtues of flexible housing are so fundamental to our university’s core value of inclusion that they could not be ignored. The pace with which this has come to fruition is a demonstration of MSU’s commitment to due diligence, to benchmarking with peer institutions inside and outside the Big Ten and, most importantly, to ensuring the safety and comfort of its students.

Single-sex rooms and suites still will be the primary form of housing on campus, but flexible housing will be available to students who want or need it for any one of an infinitely diverse array of reasons. I am proud to be a graduate of a university that honors and values this kind of diversity along with so many others.

Nick Pfost, MSU alumnus