ADRIAN, MI – The grassy area outside Siena Heights University’s McLaughlin Stadium was packed with visitors, alumni and students, all abuzz with music and chatter.
People frequently stopped, catching up with an old friend, classmate or acquaintance. Around every corner was another setup for cornhole. Everywhere, the décor and apparel were blue and gold. And a competing variety of smells from every tent permeated the air.
It felt like any other college tailgate in every major way — except one.
Saturday, Oct. 4, marked Siena Heights’ final fall homecoming before the private, Catholic college closes its doors for good next spring.
As festivities got underway before the SHU Saints took on Judson University, SHU officials said there seemed to be a record number of alumni who turned up to visit and set up tents.
“This is the most I’ve seen in 23 years,” recently-appointed SHU President Cheri Betz said, walking through the tailgate area, clipboard in hand.
A band of officials wearing trunked-out judge hats evaluated tent setups for spirit, food and beverage, most-valuable player and best decorations — and Betz for the president’s award.
“When I came into campus this morning at about 8 (a.m.), people were already parked in the street,” she said.
Siena Heights announced it would close June 30, ending its century-long history with the completion of the 2025-26 academic year.
The news shocked alumni and some members of the broader SHU community. At the time, former President Douglas Palmer cited the school’s long-term sustainability and the kinds of shifts in demographics, enrollment and costs affecting small higher education institutions across the country as the reasons for closing.
Now, with a few months to experience the university’s campus life, SHU staff, students and alumni gathered, sharing memories and things that stood out to them about homecoming.
“It’s a bit of a bittersweet thing,” said Julian Nagy, an associate professor who’s directed SHU’s honors program and was its soon-to-be assistant dean for STEM.
In his 14th year with Siena, Nagy — known around campus as “Dr. J” — received an honorary alumni award the previous night. The weekend’s camaraderie and the impact of the looming closure reminded him of a song he used to know, he said, recalling, “It’s basically that even when we die, we don’t die because we’re kind of everywhere.”
“So, even though the school is closing, everybody who is a Saint, everyone who’s had that Siena Heights experience, they’re not going like, ‘Oh, the school’s closed. I’m going to throw that part of me away.’ No, it’s in here,” Nagy said, placing his hand at the center of his chest. “And just the things we teach to make students more competent, purposeful, ethical, dignity, all the things the school stands for, we all carry that around.”
SHU ‘deeply rooted’ in Adrian
When people talked about Siena Heights amid Saturday’s festivities, they didn’t always outright mention the closure.
But it colored the things their outlook, how hard they got into their tailgate setup, or what on the roster of homecoming weekend activities they attended.
Nate Adams, a 2017 graduate, received the young alumni award Friday and said he still feels entrenched in the community as an Adrian resident.
He didn’t expect that to change.
“It’s so deeply rooted in Lenawee County and Adrian that there’s absolutely no way that that energy and the spirit of the university are ever going to go away,” Adams said. “Obviously, what happened, happened. If this is it and this is the last time we’re all together, I still think generations from now, we’re still going to be speaking about Siena Heights.”
SHU spokesperson Sarah Stanley, too, referenced how Siena’s presence seeped into the surrounding Adrian community. As tailgating ramped up, she paused, pointing to an alumnus who was also once her child’s teacher.
Originally from Tecumseh, that alumnus, Joey Chase, graduated in 2013.
He set up a tent with close friend Ryan Gigliotti, a 2012 alumnus who lives in Sterling Heights, early Saturday morning as they had for the last decade.
They’d come out at 7:50 a.m. to get their corner, but jokingly, Chase said, “People beat us. That’s our spot. We’re only a little salty.”
Overall, they were excited to see old friends, as well as new faces who’ve never attended homecoming. Although they had breakfast omelets, lunchtime smash burgers and peanut buttercup shots with Screwball and chocolate pudding, they said they’re known for their Oreo pudding shots, made with vanilla vodka and schnapps.
And they wanted everyone to try one. Mid-interview, they stopped, encouraging people to come back.
“So, if you want one or after you’re done working today — at least take one home,” Gigliotti said with a laugh.
Like many others, the duo described the last traditional Siena homecoming and being on campus as “bittersweet.”
“This is where it started. So, it’s happy, too,” Gigliotti said.
“We actually got in trouble one of the first years that they had football and built that new field, drinking along the fence line,” Chase said. “We just tailgate now. That’s what we do.”
Because they’re “both theater guys,” Chase saidvthey’d anticipated walking through the Spencer Performing Arts Center, capitalizing on their nostalgia for campus while they could.
“We always like to go through that building and see the stage and just kind of roam the halls and see what it’s like,” he said. “We graduated so long ago that campus is completely different now.”
Homecoming helps SHU community reconnect
Sitting beneath a field-side tent early Saturday, Kate Hamilton, SHU’s vice president for advancement and alumni relations, said she came to Siena Heights roughly 15 years ago.
Two of her kids graduated from Siena, she said, her husband was one of the football team’s coaches, and they both got their master’s there.
“It’s been a wonderful— you’re going to get me to cry now. Sarah, I was done crying,” Hamilton said to Stanley, briefly tearing up. “It’s been a wonderful experience for me and my family.”
“And I’m sad that it’s ending,” she added. “Siena is a special place — the relationships we built. I used to run a phone-a-thon with 20 students every semester. And I just ran into a bunch of them. I baked cookies for them. Because that’s what we used to do. I sent them all a message this morning.”
Moments later, Betz returned from tailgate judging. She’d decided to give the president’s award to the men’s and women’s basketball tent, where they’d a photobooth and physical furniture.
When asked about the meaning of homecoming, she said, “I think football gives it more of a centrality. But it’s not the focus.”
The focus? The people, she said.
The Saints went on to beat Judson 61-24 before alumni and SHU dignitaries filed into the St. Dominic Chapel for Betz’s presidential inauguration and homecoming mass.
“I’ve always prided myself as being ready to serve, and so, what that means is be prepared, have a servant’s mindset and heart,” Betz said. Reflecting on the “heartwarming” reunion under the occasion of homecoming, she said, “It’s been fun to see what means things to people.”