diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/HomePageController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/HomePageController.java
index 3e9c8305d..c17ce0ac0 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/HomePageController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/HomePageController.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vedit.beans.LoginStatusBean;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.Portal;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.VitroRequest;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.freemarker.FreemarkerHttpServlet.ResponseValues;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ public class HomePageController extends FreemarkerHttpServlet {
 
     @Override
     protected ResponseValues processRequest(VitroRequest vreq) { 
+        vreq.getSession(false);
         Map<String, Object> body = new HashMap<String, Object>();        
         // Add home page data to body here         
         return new TemplateResponseValues(BODY_TEMPLATE, body);