Butler University Homecoming is not only a big deal for current students—it’s the university’s biggest alumni-focused event.

Homecoming weekend included many events geared toward specific alumni groups, said Jennie Jones, associate director of alumni and parent programs.

Some of those events included five-,10-, 25- and 50-year class reunions, the tailgate in the Hinkle Fieldhouse parking lot, Bulldog Beauty Contest and family fun activities on Norris Plaza.

Monique Wise, associate director of alumni and parent programs, said Homecoming is beneficial for alumni because they can come back to campus and enjoy the same activities they used to enjoy while they were here, as well as see what is new.

“It gives them an opportunity to see all of the changes that are taking place at the university, the growth,” she said. “It also enables them to relive their days. They have that spirit of coming home and that spirit of reconnecting as a Butler family member.”

Wise said Homecoming is not only beneficial for the alumni but also an asset to the university.

“It is a great two-way street for both the university and alumni,” Wise said. “We get to reconnect together and share ideas and provide a happy, festive environment for everyone to have a good time.”

Alumni are centralized on Butler’s campus through the Alumni Office.

“The purpose of the Alumni Office is to help build alumni chapters and make them strong so that they can remain a part of the Butler family,” Wise said.

Wise said the Alumni Office specifically works to link alumni chapters with current students and create programs that allow members of the alumni community to come together, network, share ideas and stay abreast of the university.

There are nine active alumni chapters in the United States. In order of most members, the chapters are: Central Indiana, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Fort Wayne, Greater New York, Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lauren Cialone, a member of the Washington, D.C., Alumni Chapter steering committee, said the chapter tries to plan events several times a year.

“We try to diversify events so that people of all ages can find something they like,” Cialone said.

She said one way Butler’s alumni network differs from those of other schools is that its members are more close-knit.

“I definitely think the network is a little more intimate with a small school like Butler,” Cialone said. “It gives people more of an opportunity to get involved.”

Cialone said current and former students can utilize the network by reaching out to the chapter.

She said she’s received emails from students looking for jobs or wanting to move out to D.C., and she was able to get those students in touch with other alumni who could help.

“There’s a real willingness and desire to be helpful,” Cialone said. “Your relationship with Butler doesn’t end when you graduate.”

She said the chapter is looking to plan an event for December and already has an event for January: getting alumni out to watch the Bulldogs take on George Washington University in D.C.

Homecoming is a fabled time of the school year when the parties are larger and the excitement goes from the crack of dawn til long after the sun sets.

Homecoming is something far more than just a time to party, and it is not just for the currently attending students.

Homecoming is a time for alumni to “come home,” reminisce about their days at Butler University and see what the university has become.

Dan Kaufman, a 1966 Butler graduate, said he loves coming back to Butler to see that the university is doing so well.

“I hope the university continues to demonstrate The Butler Way, so to speak, and the way that it’s intended to be,” Kaufman said.

“So many people have demonstrated its possibilities, and for it to continue to grow, not necessarily in size, but in the strength that it has academically.”

Junior Esther Flaharty said she believes some students understand what Homecoming means to alumni.

“For the students, it’s a lot about raging, but it’s also good to see the alumni come back,” Flaharty said.  “But for a lot of people it’s just about partying.
For alumni it is about coming back and reminiscing and seeing what the university has become.”

The university also uses Homecoming to showcase the school’s greatest achievements, reminding the alumni that Butler is a worthy investment.

Roger Phelps, another 1966 Butler graduate, said the only contact he has with the university any more is solicitation.

“I used to sit on those phone banks myself, so it’s hard for me to condemn it,” Phelps said.  “But I know it’s a valuable part of the financial situation.”

Phelps and Kaufman both said that even when they were students at Butler, Homecoming was the biggest party of the year.

It is good to know that while many things about Butler have changed over the years, some things have remained the same.

Some Butler University graduates have found success, but struggled to attain their postgraduate goals.

The 2011 postgraduate activity report said approximately 93 percent of student respondents were successfully involved in postgraduate activities within the first six months of leaving Butler.

However, true success was not immediate for most graduates.

“Before I went to Spain, I applied for 100 jobs and didn’t get any,” said Hannah Whiteman, a 2011 graduate who recently returned from a gap-year experience teaching English in Spain. “I was lucky to find a job.”

She now works as a communications specialist at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie, Ind.

Whiteman said Butler’s  Internship and Career Services office helped put her degrees in public relations, international studies and Spanish to good use by helping her find the job at the center.

Whiteman said she misses Butler and would be back if she could be.

Chris Parker, a 2012 graduate with a degree in arts administration, still lives near campus and said he would not have acquired his job as the annual fund officer for Planned Parenthood of Indiana without Butler’s help.

“I don’t think that I would be as happy as I am now or feel as satisfied with who I am as a person and what I’ve accomplished had I not gone to Butler,” Parker said.

Parker said while the personal growth he experienced was well worth Butler’s price tag, the financial burden has been hard to deal with.

“Right now, with the salary I have, I can pay (my debt) off in 10 years, but I know I’m going to struggle for awhile,” Parker said.

Josh Slusher, a 2012 graduate with a degree in political science, said he thinks about his student debt almost every day as he works as an executive assistant at Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm, in Washington D.C.

Slusher said he thinks the education Butler provided prepared him for his current job.

“When I was 18, I was willing to take on the debt because I thought the education I’d receive at Butler was worth it,” Slusher said. “You really don’t fully grasp it (the student loan debt) until you leave Butler and the numbers become more real.”

Parker said it bothered him to watch students leave because of the realization they could not afford a Butler education when he worked in residence life at Butler.

Parker said he thinks administrators need to spot students who are struggling earlier to help them make it by.

Butler students graduate with $5,000 more in student loan debt than they did five years ago, The Collegian reported earlier this semester.

Gary Beaulieu, director of ICS, said students’ financial obligations combined with the current job market have had some impact on graduates’ decisions, but he cannot identify what that impact is.

If Butler’s tuition costs continue to rise, administrators risk fundamentally changing the fabric of the student body, Parker said.

“At the rate that it’s going, it could easily become a university that only people who are well-to-do can afford to attend,” Parker said. “It’s going to start kicking students like me out who really want, who really feel like they worked as hard as they could in the crappy school system that they came from, to achieve the right to go to a small private institution and get that nice well-rounded liberal arts education.”

Butler University President Jim Danko will embark on an inaugural tour to connect with alumni and promote the university.

Danko will make stops in New York, Florida, the Midwest and the West Coast.

The trip kicks off with a visit to the Indiana Historical Society on Feb. 15.

“I expect it will be an excellent way for me to continue to learn about Butler and to start building relationships with a critical group that provides support to Butler,” Danko said in an email.

In addition to building relationships with Butler graduates, Danko will also be sharing his vision for Butler’s future as president with alumni.

The president’s website outlines the trip’s details and visits over three months.

To Ben Wright, a Butler graduate who attained his bachelor’s degree in music performance last semester, the success of Danko’s tour depends on how the president expresses ideas for Butler’s improvement.

“I really do love this school,” Wright said. “I’m tired of hearing about all the good things. I know we can do great things, but if I’m giving money to this school, I want to know where we’re struggling and how my money can help.”

Danko said many of the cities will be visited in clusters or on strategic days, allowing him to spend time at the university and to be available to students.

“It’s never a bad thing for the president to raise awareness or help out Butler,” sophomore biology major Alex Henderson said. “Overall, I think it’s a good plan.”

Danko said that traveling is an important part of the job as university president and that he plans to continue traveling throughout the summer and fall.

Danko has also expressed his desire for a close connection with students—stressing the need for an open-forum atmosphere of discussion between faculty, students and administration. His trips will not take away from that, he said.

“I also remain firmly committed to my frequent meetings with students, faculty and staff here on campus,” Danko said in an email to faculty members. “This semester, I have decided to expand student-input opportunities by instituting a series of ‘town hall’ meetings.”

Because of this, Danko delayed  his tour until the second semester after gaining a better understanding of the Butler community, he said.

The first of these meetings has been scheduled for Jan. 30.