Butler University was the first higher education institution in Indiana to admit women on equal basis with men, and only the second in the nation. Butler also admitted students of color on an equal basis when it opened its doors on November 1, 1855.

Author Kurt Vonnegut left Butler in 1942 after managing no better than a “C” average in his English courses.

Butler University is credited with inventing the Blue Book. Towards the end of the 1920s, Butler professors asked for a booklet of lined pages with a cover for exams, and because Butler’s colors are blue and white, blue covers were added.

C-Club in Atherton Union used to be an Arcade.

Irwin Library, completed in 1963,was designed by the same architect who designed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Minoru Yamasaki.

Lilly Hall houses the largest children’s choir in the world, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir.

Legendary Coach, Tony Hinkle, who coached Butler for nearly 50 years, was credited with inventing the orange basketball to improve the ball’s visibility on the court.

The Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium is home to the largest telescope in Indiana.  When the 38-inch telescope was installed in 1953, it was also the ninth largest in the U.S. and among the 30 largest in the world.

Clowes Memorial Hall, one of the premiere auditoriums in the state, is located on Butler’s campus.  Opened in 1963, Clowes was the first mixed-use auditorium of its kind in the U.S., designed to accommodate everything from opera to ballet to jazz groups to Broadway shows, and it became a model for other mixed-use auditoriums, like the Kennedy Center.  It is recognized as one of the most acoustically accurate halls in the world.

Hinkle Fieldhouse was host to the Milan Miracle, the memorable 1954 victory of tiny Milan High School over the much larger Muncie Central.  It was used to film the climactic final game in the movie Hoosiers which is based on the Milan Miracle story.  Opened in 1928 as the Butler Fieldhouse, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has hosted presidential speeches, track and field events, bicycle races, and the world’s largest piano recital, as well as decades of basketball.

The Starbucks attached to Atherton Union was the first Starbucks located on a college campus in Indiana.

The Butler Collegian, Butler’s student newspaper,  is recognized as the “Best College Newspaper in Indiana,” by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Gordon Hayward was the number nine pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. Hayward and Shelvin Mack are the 6^th and 7^th Butler students to be drafted to the NBA.  The last draft pick from Butler was in 1983 with Lynn Mitchem.

Shelvin Mack was drafted to the Washington Wizards in the NBA in 2011.

J. I Holcomb, Indianapolis entrepreneur, inventor, and benefactor of Butler University,   invented the first electric self-buttering popcorn machine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler_University

Butler Student Ambassador 2009-2010 Office of Admission Training Manual