When Butler officials announced that the university would be among the newest members of the Big East, a general sense of jubilation quickly spread across the social media world.
Administrators are hopeful that the move will give Butler a chance to reach a bigger national spotlight, some exposure to potential athletes and students and make our degree all the more valuable.
While all of these sound great, perhaps Butler made the move too quickly.
Decisions that will indeed impact the entire university should not be based in full off of the success of one athletic team.
A degree from Butler will be valuable if the academics are up to par, not if the basketball team makes a showing in the tournament.
The talk to move to the Big East only started a month before the announcement, according to Chief of Staff Ben Hunter, so one has to wonder if the decision was made too quickly.
Realigning the university with a group of institutions unlike our own puts us at risk of encountering an identity crisis.
We’re joining the likes of Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette—schools that boast enrollment twice as large as ours and graduate programs that could make you forget Butler even offers graduate degrees.
We are, as one Big East official said, the token non-Catholic school in the bunch.
Geographically, we are separated from a majority of our fellow Big East schools.
We hope that Butler administrators took the time to address these differences in identities when they decided to make the big move.
Students have been coming to Butler for a very specific atmosphere. The small-school appeal is what draws students in.
Big moves can mean even bigger changes for the university.
We just hope the decision was made with the entire university in mind, not just the basketball team.