When walk­ing down one of South Bond Hall’s floors next year, stu­dents may be sur­prised to notice that there will be no males liv­ing there.

Bond Hall is try­ing some­thing dif­fer­ent and mak­ing one of its floors for females only. The new house will be set up adja­cent to the inter­na­tional house, giv­ing girls the oppor­tu­nity to live sep­a­rated from males for reli­gious, cul­tural or per­sonal reasons.

“We had a few stu­dents who requested to live away from males and we wanted to respect their wishes and pro­vide an all girls floor. We know that not every cul­ture or back­ground allows such a close inter­ac­tion with the oppo­site sex and we wanted to offer that option,” said Assistant Director of Residential Programs and Services, Lisa Ortiz.

“This is just one step in the con­tin­ual improve­ment process Ferris State hous­ing is try­ing to pro­vide for equal oppor­tu­nity for each res­i­dent on cam­pus,” said Ortiz.

With an increase in inter­na­tional stu­dents in the past year, Ferris State hous­ing is work­ing closely with the International Office to pro­vide bet­ter hous­ing for those from dif­fer­ent backgrounds.

Yug Gill, hall direc­tor for Bond Hall and for­mer inter­na­tional stu­dent, wanted to pro­vide a com­mu­nity where stu­dents could not only learn in class­rooms, but in their com­mu­ni­ties as well.

“Bond Hall houses a lot of dif­fer­ent cul­tures and peo­ple from dif­fer­ent back­grounds; I wanted to cre­ate a place where stu­dents can learn from each other and about their cul­tures,” said Gill.

“As we move for­ward with our edu­ca­tion, we learn that we are becom­ing more of a global soci­ety. Living with peo­ple from all around the world really pre­pares the stu­dents for work­ing with peo­ple from all over the world on a daily basis,” said Gill.

The all-female floor is only one of the first few steps Bond Hall is try­ing to take to make inter­na­tional stu­dents feel com­fort­able in their res­i­dence halls. With nicer kitchens, no meal plan options, and break hous­ing, the hall is tailor-made for inter­na­tional students.

“With inter­na­tional stu­dents, going home is a lit­tle tougher and we needed to have the option for stu­dents to stay on cam­pus dur­ing breaks because a plane halfway across the world may not be fea­si­ble,” said Gill.

Kayla Franzel, who is start­ing in the radi­og­ra­phy pro­gram in the fall, will be the res­i­dent advi­sor for the all-girls floor next year.

“This will be a new expe­ri­ence for me, but I am look­ing for­ward to it. I can­not wait to be a res­i­dent advi­sor and make a lot of new friends. Having an all-girls floor will be some­thing new, but I am excited to meet every­one,” said Franzel.

Since this is new next year, no one knows how effec­tive it will be, but they are hop­ing it will be a good and worth­while move.

“If this works and no prob­lems arise, we will con­tinue doing it, but if it doesn’t work out, we will re-evaluate it and try to bet­ter our res­i­dents another way,” said Gill. n