Last week, Residence Life decided to offer a new special living option in conjunction with the existing Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) floor that would allow members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community and its allies (LGBTA) to reside in the already designated MLK floor in Beaver Hall.

Combining the floor was an idea of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Residence Life and the LGBTA student resource center.

The MLK floor is designed to promote social justice, and students must be involved with achieving King's goals throughout their activities in life. The reason to allow LBGTA-involved students to live on this floor is to promote a safe environment of people who are equally interested in promoting social justice.

Combining these two groups with a living option is a good idea for the Penn State community. It will allow people to feel safer and promote more diversity within the community.

The key in the implementation of this floor is offering LBGTA students the option to live in their own area, with others who have like-minded goals and norms.

But, the university cannot be selective in the groups it chooses to allow designated living areas. There should be a large demand for these types of special living options in order to designate their allocation by the university.

In this instance, it looks as if the interest is there, and students should be able to feel comfortable in their living areas.

Allowing LGBTA students to live on the MLK floor is a positive step for all communities at Penn State. We realize that not all LGBTA students will want to live on the floor, much as other social activists that are involved at Penn State do not necessarily live on the MLK floor.

But, in order to foster LGBTA students' educational experience at the university, Penn State should allow them the option of their own living area. And that's exactly what has happened here.

In the end, this initiative will simply foster a more socially-diverse environment at Penn State and offer a broader range of acceptance by the university -- both of which are sorely needed steps for a socially-equal world and educational environment.