This Veterans Day, the Butler community will honor students, faculty, staff and family who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces through a social media campaign and tabling at the Gazebo. However, veterans on campus are advocating for support from the university that extends beyond Nov. 11.
Josiah Hatfield, the associate director of special populations in the Efroymson Diversity Center (DC), gave the campus community the opportunity to submit photos of veterans and active-duty military members to be shared on Butler Diversity Center and Student Life social media accounts.
“It’ll be relatively simple, but we want to make sure that people know that it’s Veterans Day and that they can be celebrating or thanking people in their lives, family members, friends or people here on campus as well,” Hatfield said.
Jessica Martin, a junior biology major and former air traffic controller in the U.S. Navy, is grateful to the Butler community for the support she receives, despite the university’s small veteran population.
“There have been groups like veteran groups that were trying to form up; we just have a smaller population here,” Martin said. “I’ve been treated well, and I’m always getting people reaching out to me. I’ve had past professors that I never even told them I was a veteran come up to me and say, ‘Happy Veterans Day.’”
Senior sports media major Caleb Ball served in the U.S. Army as a Black Hawk crew chief. Although he is appreciative of the recognition on Veterans Day, he wants to find community amongst other veterans who may have similar experiences and challenges as him. He has been part of multiple pushes to establish a veteran organization throughout his time at Butler.
“It’s hard when you don’t have a community of veterans around you to look at on Veterans Day and go, ‘Oh, it would be nice to go spend some time with some of my friends,’” Ball said.
During Ball’s first year, the Student Government Association (SGA) created a task force to visit Villanova and learn about their veteran program, which features two branches — one focused on community and the other on veteran benefits.
“I learned about a health benefit, which was like if you’re disabled and you are eligible for compensation, you can register for Chapter 31, reserve your GI Bill and you can still go to school for free,” Ball said. “I opted into that program, so now I still have my GI Bill [to use on future schooling], and I would not know that if I didn’t take that trip to Villanova.”
The task force drafted a proposal for building a similar program at Butler. However, the project stalled after the former vice president of student affairs departed from the university.
“Trying to keep that proposal going for three years, it’s been a very hard task for me,” Ball said. “It never happened. There’s been no space for veterans.”
In the spring of 2026, Ball helped form another group to push the proposal, which included Skyler Awisus, assistant athletic director and U.S. Space Force veteran. The proposal was ultimately shut down again.
Ball explained that the university wanted them to establish a registered student organization first.
“We were told that we need to become a student organization, whereas it is not a student organization,” Ball said. “It is for everybody on campus, not just students. There are veterans [who] are faculty members and staff members. There are family members of military personnel that are both students, faculty and staff.”
Beyond benefit awareness, Ball and the task force are pushing for a dedicated veteran space to help bridge the age gap between veteran students and traditional undergraduates.
Other veterans, including Martin, have found community on campus despite the age difference.
“I think [age] was one of my big concerns coming in,” Martin said. “Like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so much older than these people.’ But no, I think the community is really welcoming and supportive, and I haven’t had issues.”
Ball does not discount these positive experiences, but he emphasizes the importance of a designated veteran network.
“I’m grateful that [other veterans] are able to have a good time and a good experience at Butler,” Ball said. “Unfortunately, mine hasn’t been the same way, but I do think it’s beneficial [to their experience] that they haven’t been as involved in trying to create that community aspect. They’re building their own community somewhere else, finding new friends, getting out there in their own ways.”
Hatfield noted that many campus veterans may not realize how many of their peers, faculty and staff share military backgrounds. Since Hatfield recently moved into the DC position in June, he plans to utilize his previous experience with first-generation students to support the veteran population.
“The first thing is [finding out] who are our veterans and how we bring them together and build a little bit of a community,” Hatfield said. “Comparing it to our first generation work … a number of those students were like, ‘I thought I was the only first generation student here,’ and there’s 700 first generation students here. I think for veterans, when I pulled data this fall, [there is] something like 60 to 70 students here. So it’s obviously smaller, but obviously that’s not nothing.”
During Ball and Martin’s time at Butler, there have been limited resources, time and space for a veteran program, but Hatfield is looking to do the best he can to expand support. The associate director of special populations position was created only two years ago, so the hope is that long-term programming and dedicated space for veterans will follow.