Aniyah Smith, Asst. Arts & Life Editor
Every Friday night, Denison’s 50-year-old student-run sustainability house, the Homestead, hosts a vegetarian dinner open to anyone on campus. This semester, the turnout has been overwhelmingly high – as many as 150 people, according to residents who started keeping a sign-in sheet to track it.
Twelve students currently live on the property, where they cook, chop wood and tend a garden and a small flock of chickens between classes.
At dinner, everyone gets a turn to share about their week by saying a high, a low and something random from their week. They call it “High-Low-Buffalo.” This activity is one of the many traditions practiced at the community dinners.
Han Huynh, a first-year at this table for the first time, says the wood stove reminds her of her childhood. She had been sick of dining hall food, saw the Homestead on Instagram and figured the walk over doubled as a workout. She didn’t expect to feel so at home.
“I will go here whenever I’m stressed out,” she said.
After the spring semester of 2027, none of these traditions will continue the same way. Last November, Denison announced it will stop using the Homestead as student housing, ending five decades of the program.
Administration has not said what will replace it, and Denison’s Office of University Communications & Branding responded to a request for comment but were unable to answer questions before the communicated deadline.
Several residents, alumni, and regular visitors described the Homestead as one of the only places on campus where they felt like they belonged.
“There was a switch in my brain when I was like, I can actually see this school as being home,” said Noa Holland, a senior who has lived at the Homestead for a year and a half. “Whereas previously, I felt like I could kind of give or take Denison.”
On a typical day, residents do tasks such as letting out the chickens and watering the gardens before heading to class. In winter, someone keeps the wood furnace going three times a day to heat the house. Decisions are made by consensus at their nightly dinners.
When Holland and their roommate moved in, only eight of the house’s 12 beds were filled. This semester, for the first time in almost a decade, the Homestead is at full capacity.
“It’s not just residential homesteaders that benefit,” Holland said, mentioning that Friday Community dinners and Sunday work parties draw in crowds beyond its 12 residents.
Gabriel Heetland ‘28 moved in this year after hearing the Homestead would be shutting down.
“I heard that they were trying to shut it down, and I was thinking this might be the last year that I could possibly do it,” he said.
Alumni have emphasized the life skills they feel they were able to develop just by living there.
Max Bonsteel, a 2026 graduate, lived at the Homestead his senior year after being involved since freshman year. He expressed that campus always felt cliquey to him.
“But when I came here, no matter what, I could just come and sit,” he said. He still cooks and sews using skills he picked up at the Homestead.
After the spring of next year, no student will be able to walk into a place like the Homestead again. Questions remain surrounding what will come in its place. Despite efforts from the community and a renewed interest in the property, administration has indicated in past correspondence with The Denisonian that no changes will be made to their decision in shutting down the Homestead.