In high school, academics is often overshadowed by sports. Even though we have great academic programs, sports (even when they are bad) take center stage. How are sports perceived at Butler?
For some reason when you start new threads they are locked..... strange. I'll have to look into that, sorry!
I don't think it's like high school in that regard. There is certainly a good amount of school spirit, but I don't see the athletes getting the favoritism they do in high school academics. Any students want to chime in on this?
What is Butler's biggest sport? Do lots of students go to the games?
Basketball is definitely the biggest sport at Butler and one we are very proud of and get very excited about!
Our men's team has been in the NCAA March Madness tournament for the last two years (we played Florida in the Sweet Sixteen in 2007) and we are also the reigning Horizon League Champions (there are way more achievements that I could list - if you're interested, read about them here: http://butlersports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041408aab.html).
The games are very popular and really fun events that brings the campus together. Dawg Pound, our student spirit section, is the biggest club on campus (and blogger Jake is the president, if you want to hear more about it).
That said, one of the things we are most proud of is that our athletes are REAL Butler students getting a college education. Last year, if you took the March Madness bracket and compared GPAs of all the teams, then we won the tournament : ) I had Spanish class with Drew Streicher (one of our best players from the class of 2008) my freshman year, and the prof treated him like any other student. I didn't even know he was on the basketball team untill halfway through the semester!! (I was always like "Wow, that kid is tall..." and yet I didn't figure it out hahaha). Drew graduated with a 3.95 GPA and is now in med school at IU.
Whenever we celebrate the athletic achievements of the team, their academic success is something that is almost always mentioned along with it.
I say all this to get back to the original question... yes, sports are important at Butler and like any good Indiana school, we LOVE our basketball... but I don't think it overshadows what we are really here for, which is a quality education.
--- Christina '10 http://go.butler.edu/cs/blogs/christinaL
Thanks for that answer. At the University of Illinois (the closest college to me), athletes are a huge deal, and they have had problems controlling some of them (Luther Head, Jamar Smith, etc.) I really respect a school like Butler that has athletes who are also committed to furthering their educations.