This year’s Homecoming festivities were revamped to enhance the student experience while maintaining alumni engagement. A stronger presence for tailgating and bringing back retired traditions were prioritized, aiming to make Homecoming 2026 feel fresh and exciting.
The new Spirit and Traditions Committee came together to find a way to concentrate the Homecoming energy at the annual tailgate, Bulldog Boulevard. The added committee includes the Office of Student Activities, Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Office of Student Experience and Engagement, the Office of Service & Community Engagement and Butler Athletics.
One of the biggest changes was an increased effort to push students to the tailgate — instead of gathering on the knoll — by not hosting day-of events around campus. Another significant change included Fraternity and Sorority Life bringing back lawn decks in addition to the annual Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi Fraternity Chariot Races.
Jesse Wanzo Neader, the director of the Office of Student Activities — which oversees University Program Council (UPC) — explained that while this was the second year that UPC did not host their day-of Homecoming events, there was more of a “vibe” this year.
“[This year] the energy was back,” Neader said. “There were more students there — I think last year it was a little bit awkward. [The students] were like, ‘Should there be something out here [on the Mall]?’ and so this year it was really nice to fully integrate and really push students that way … Students were really excited about Homecoming in a way that I hadn’t seen them excited about Homecoming in a while.”
Neader also explained that Fraternity and Sorority Life lawn decorations were a tradition before the COVID-19 pandemic, but were cut due to low student interest.
“Greek life went back to [having interest in] lawn decks,” Neader said. “We didn’t know how that was going to go over. We were pleasantly surprised. Alumni really liked the lawn decks.”
Ava DelVecchio, a senior psychology and sociology combined major, spent a large portion of her day at the tailgate, which was a change from previous years. She noted an increase in younger alumni attendance.
“The tailgate was a lot of fun,” DelVecchio said. “There were a lot of people there, and it was good to see such great examples of school spirit. It was really fun to see lots of alums present, including my cousin and other members [of my sorority].”
Jennie Jones, the senior director of Butler community engagement, noted that centering the tailgate was also important for alumni and faculty experience.
“The tailgate has always been what people like the most,” Jones said. “For a while we would try to create some additional activities that highlighted different things, but people just wanted to be at the tailgate, so we refocused, and we put all our energy into the tailgate.”
Jones hopes that the Homecoming tailgate changes will help get more students and, eventually, alumni to create a season-long culture.
“Athletics this season has been doing a lot trying to get additional student tailgates at all of the home football games, and so they had that opportunity for this game as well,” Jones said. “You’ll continue to see us doing a push to pull more students into that tailgate culture and create that activity and energy at all of the football games, but also have Homecoming be a part of that.”
Even though UPC did not host day-of activities due to the committees’ tailgate focus, they hosted their usual programming throughout the week. Events included their weekly Try-it-out Tuesday with Blue’s Soda Bar and Foodie Friday with Byrne’s Grilled Pizza.
Nicholas Niswonger, the assistant director of the Office of Student Activities, is the faculty advisor for UPC. He was excited about the attendance at events leading up to Homecoming.
“Blue’s Soda Bar has always been a big thing that gets a lot of people,” Niswonger said. “We were very surprised at just the number of students … The other thing that I really enjoyed was our Foodie Friday truck, especially for Homecoming. That had probably the largest number of people, and that included staff, students and maybe some alumni.”
However, there was a decrease in engagement with week-long events, like the annual student organization banner painting competition.
Sophomore marketing major Carleigh Adams is the director of marketing for UPC and observed the decrease in participation.
“I have noticed that at some of our more time-consuming events, less people show up just because they are busy or tests are starting to happen, but then at a lot of our stop-by events, we’ve had a lot of enthusiasm,” Adams said.
Looking ahead to next year, Jones and Neader agree that further collaboration would enhance the overall experience even more.
“I think an opportunity for next year is really getting together with Jennie Jones early [and] with the Homecoming committee and see where UPC can bolster the Homecoming experience in the tailgate area,” Neader said. “Maybe we take some of those fun things that we used to do on the Mall as a drinking alternative and push those over to the tailgate.”