In a decision made this past summer by Housing and Residence Life, Belk Hall will go from being an all-girl freshmen dorm to housing both male and female first year students in the Fall of 2016.

Belk has not been a place of preference for new students for some time, according Director of Housing and Residence Life Peter Groenendyk. “The department has received a lot of feedback regarding this and it has to do with the building being single gender.”

UNC-Wilmington Sophomore Kaitlyn Baxley saw her freshmen year in Belk Hall as a positive experience, but also remembered the responses of her peers when ever she said she lived in the all-girl dorm.

“Whenever people found out that I lived in Belk they would say ‘oh, you live in Tampon Towers’ or would ask ‘how is it living in Pussy Palace,'” remarked Baxley. “I don’t think its cool to make [those] remarks… I mean most of this campus is girls, why is it bad that I live in a place with a lot of girls?”

Belk Hall is well known for being the only single gender housing area on campus and has acquired infamous nicknames throughout the years.

This decision to switch the style of Belk Hall also came after last semester’s attempt by Belk Resident Assistants to change the image of Belk. The week-long event put on by the RA’s in Belk was entitled “Redefining Belk” and centered on female empowerment and reimagining Belk as more than just the all-female dorm on campus.

Some of the events during this week included self-defense training and open dialogues about feminism and sexism. The RA’s even screened the acclaimed documentary “Miss Representation” which centered on the image presented of women in mass media.

“It is definitely a little sad that after all of that hard work to reimagine Belk, now they are just turning it coed,” said UNCW Sophomore and ex-Belk Hall resident Hannah Daley. “I hope they at least do something important, like have an all-athlete floor or add a learning community.”

Some, like Baxley and Daley, even said that having a Women and Gender Studies learning community would be a good alternative to just making Belk like every other dorm in the freshman quad.

However, no plans are to be set until the spring semester after the bulk of Fall 2016 applicants have been reviewed. Once that has been done, Housing and Residence Life plans to start dedicating specific suites in Belk Hall to male students, according to Groenendyk.

And for incoming female students who do prefer an all-girl atmosphere, the university plans to dedicate specific spots in the University Apartments and in the Suites to them.

However, this new development serves to provide for the growing male population of the school. The number of males as a percentage of the freshman class increased two percent for the Fall of 2015.

UNCW Resident Assistant Matt Kokos said that there are “no drawbacks other than losing an all-girl dorm… [this new development] will also allow for more males [students] to be hired as RA’s.”

Ultimately, no plans are set in stone yet. When asked about the official plan for this new development, Groenendyk said that he “anticipates that once the University develops its new strategic plan, the department will develop a long term plan for housing that will support the University in a strategic manner.”