Pride House closure: Tasteless timing

RAE BROCK
PHOTOGRAPHER

JAMIE DIEDRICH
STAFF WRITER

3/24/2025

On March 3, 2025, Alma College sent out an email announcing the beginning of the housing selection process, along with a few additional announcements. One of the announcements was that the Pride House, an inclusive residential option for LGBT+ individuals, was being closed due to unsafe living conditions.  

The college stressed that this was not related to the current political climate and stated that they are “committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive campus environment for all students.” 

In my opinion, this is not only incredibly poor timing but it’s just plain ignorant. There are several other small houses that are incredibly worn down and arguably unsafe to live in, but they are not being shut down. While I do not think this was intentionally discriminatory, I do think it was an immensely controversial decision.  

“I genuinely think the Pride House is in better shape than both Sigma Chi and Phi Mu Alpha, so I don’t understand the immediate need to close when their houses are never an issue. Phi Mu Alpha has had years of bats in their attic and yet the school still allows students to live there. It is utterly disappointing that the school believes this is the only answer,” said Ava Kelly (‘25), a current resident of the Pride House.  

“Us housies only found out about the house closure about three hours before the rest of the student body was notified. I was not happy about the timing, especially because this left our underclassmen housies with very little time to figure out a plan for next year,” said Kelly.  

I believe the school should have been more specific about what deemed the house to be unsafe in the first place. PMA, Sigma Chi and the Multicultural House all have questionable staircases and architecture that could be a hazard to anyone even slightly inebriated, and those are used far more by the public than the Pride House. For an institution that defended its decision, it’s strange to give little to no details to support it.  

“I was told by staff that it’s because the house is not structurally okay and needs too many renovations that the school cannot afford. If the house wasn’t safe, I’d think they wouldn’t want us living in it right now. The Pride House hasn’t been full the last two academic years, but during the fall, we housies worked hard to recruit during in-house events,” said Kelly. 

“If the roster of the Pride House was the true issue, I wish the school would’ve given us a chance to fill it completely for next term. I believe that students are more aware of the house’s existence now and would therefore more likely live there in the future. We had planned to have another in-house event for the campus community this semester but canceled it due to the closure of the house,” said Kelly.  

I would hope that Alma College would not consider closing a housing structure solely because it wasn’t full, but to be frank given how Alma College deals with issues of funding and how it’s used towards housing, it wouldn’t surprise me.  

“I was told by Alma faculty that Residence Life is going to create a community like the JCLLC for LGBTQ+ students to live in, but this resource is only going to be available for first years, which leaves out an entire three classes worth of LGBTQ+ population. I also feel as though placing a bunch of LGBTQ+ students into one hallway may not be the safest decision during our current political climate. I love Alma College with my entire heart, but this decision has me extremely disappointed in this institution,” said Kelly.