For returning students, Peirce Hall has been looking a little… different this semester! Kenyon now allows faculty and staff to eat one free meal a day, up to five days a week, in Peirce, encouraging them to spend their mealtimes alongside students. There has been a recent influx of professors eating there, mingling and contributing to the boisterous atmosphere. Following this new integration, students feel a sense of community with faculty and staff, who now have more lunch options. 

 In an interview with the Collegian, Associate Professor of History Hilary Buxton weighed in on Peirce’s new lease on life. Though Buxton has taught at Kenyon since 2020, COVID-19 prevented her from eating at the dining hall. Since then, she has only eaten at Peirce once or twice a year before the new meal policy was implemented. Other than this, Peirce was off the table.

 Now, Buxton eats at Peirce once a day for lunch. “[It’s] kind of a more ideal time,” she said. The servery has helped her keep up with her 2026 New Year’s resolution to have a legume day once a week. To top it all off, she has weighed in on what students are already intimately familiar with: The desserts are great. 

The new meal plan is a game changer for faculty and staff. Buxton was able to switch from leftovers and Trader Joe’s food packs to a hot lunch. Without worrying about buying or preparing a meal, she has more time for other parts of her day, like managing daycare pickup.

As for the effects of this new policy on students, they also seem to welcome the change. “It makes me so happy to see [Professor of Philosophy Joel Richeimer] having breakfast because I’m aware that he can’t have dinner on Thursday nights because of our seminar. So I’m really happy that he’s having at least one of the three meals in a day,” Brianna Mortimer ’27 said. Kaitlyn Ingersoll ’27 noted that the friendly energy from Kenyon’s Middle Path has trekked into New Side: “I think it’s kind of electric…I love the Kenyon culture of waving, like on Middle Path in Peirce.” With the increase in professor foot traffic, Peirce is seeing more of the camaraderie usually reserved for classrooms and on Middle Path.

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?” Isabella Kreidler ’28 wondered while sitting at a New Side table. A sentiment shared by many students is that shared meals create stronger connections. “I feel a stronger sense of community now that our professors eat with us”, Mortimer shared. However, Buxton noted that whether or not professors want to eat with students may vary from person to person. 

Now that professors can eat cost-free, they can enjoy the convenience and community of the dining hall — with whomever they choose. The development has been positively received across the board, from students to professors. The opportunity for liberal arts discourse over a plate of Sweet and Sour Tofu is especially appealing: “It’s kind of like when a professor invites you to their house, y’know? This is us inviting the professor into our house,” Ingersoll said.