History
Denison University was founded by the Ohio Baptist Education Society in 1831 as the Granville Literary and Theological Institution. After the school relocated to an area overlooking Granville, it accepted a $10,000 donation from local farmer William Denison, adopting his name as a thank-you. Ol’ Billy Denison later took back part of that promised cash, saying he couldn’t afford it after his recent remarriage. (Hey, women are expensive!) The school was originally all-male, but it went coeducational in 1900 when it absorbed the Shepardson College for Women. Though it began as a Baptist institution, the university no longer has any religious affiliation.
Location
Denison is located on a hill overlooking the rural village of Granville, Ohio. Its roughly 4,000 locals welcome students, and the sleepy town can be a fun (and really safe) place to explore. Other than a few restaurants and coffee shops, there isn't much to do in Granville, especially after 6 p.m. Students generally stay on campus or head to nearby Easton or Columbus for nighttime entertainment.
A sophomore writes:
“The town around the school is tiny and quaint, and most of the residents eager to invite a lost student to dinner or offer a bed off-campus if you really need a vacation (I've been here for only one year, and both of those things have been offered). But if you need a big-city fix, downtown Columbus is an easy 25-minute drive off-campus. Every weekend, my friends and I go to clubs on High Street (the gallery district that has GREAT shopping and places to chill).”
According to one senior:
“A lot of students go to Easton Shopping Center, which is about 25 minutes away. Easton is really popular, and it’s a really good place to take a date. Easton has tons of stores and restaurants, and it’s one of those really cute outdoor malls with twinkle-lights illuminating everything. There is also a movie theater there. A good night out is going to Easton for dinner and then seeing a movie. Denison is also right outside the towns of Newark and Heath, which are no Eastons but are really convenient. There is a Target, Wal-mart, Chipotle, Michael's, Best-Buy, Olive Garden, Office Max, Giant Eagle, liquor stores, a mall with a movie theater, etc.--basically, whatever you want. And if you're really feeling adventurous you can head into Columbus or visit some friends at Ohio State, only about 35 minutes away.”
Campus
The school has a pretty big budget for keeping campus in superb condition, so there are a slew of renovated and mint-condition buildings. The thousand-acre main campus is pretty compact, so class-hopping is quick and easy. The academic buildings are positioned in the middle of College Hill, with residential halls on the east and west sides. Campus is laid out in clustered buildings, with the Academic Quadrangle, Campus Common Quadrangle, Science Quadrangle, and Fine Arts Quadrangle.
One senior says:
“Even though Denison is small (around 2,100 undergrads), campus is laid out to make it appear and feel larger. The seasons are beautiful. Denison is a very arborous campus, and the trees turn beautiful colors in the fall and spring. It is Ohio, however, and it gets pretty cold here in the winter months, especially since Denison is built on a hill. At least the snow is pretty--most of the time. One of the best things about Denison is that since the campus has such a gorgeous landscape, a lot of people spend time outside on the quads during the warm months, playing Frisbee, laying out, cooking out, drinking, etc. During these times there is a real sense of community, which I think is awesome.”
Issues
Students have some serious issues with the dingy and unhealthy student housing furnishings. They complain that the school spends serious moolah on a pretty façade but doesn’t seem to take care of its students. The lack of diversity is striking and has created divisions and hostility among the student body.
One student writes, “The administration here seems to like investing their time and efforts into things on campus just so they can tell other people that they did those things on campus. It strikes me as pride for the sake of advertisement, not for the sake of enriching our education here, although it still ultimately helps the students.
Another thing that I feel is a problem at Denison is the manner in which disciplinary action is carried out. There were multiple cases of rape and hate-related violence that have gone occurred in the past year, and although we had a long, arduous forum discussing many of these problems, the strongest stand against many of these problems has been a flyer campaign across campus. Security has been stepped up patrols of student parties on campus, which generally have no longterm negative effect on campus life. In all, it seems like the administration is focusing its efforts on the wrong problems and not punishing real criminals harshly enough, letting harmless, rambunctious college students bear the brunt of the enforcement.
This past year on campus was fairly active with regards to racial and LGBT awareness and oppression. There were incidents of hate crimes, both race- and LGBT-related, and there was a day-long campus discussion forum to discuss many of the problems at hand. Denison constantly brags about our so-called "diverse" atmosphere, but I think that it is not quite as sensitive to race and sexual orientation as people would like to believe. Steps are constantly being taken to increase diversity. I hope they really pay off, because I think this campus could turn into a great liberal arts school with a greater number of diverse perspectives on campus.”
