The basement of LaFollette also housed campus offices, classrooms, computer labs and gym equipment.

This served to separate the male and female portions of the dormitory, as the stairs would pass by lobby doors.

This complex was named in honor of Robert R. LaFollette, who served as the professor of Social Sciences and head of the department from 1921 until his retirement in 1961.

Unfortunately, on March 24, 1967, he tragically lost his life in a plane crash on a mountainside north of Da Nang.

To commemorate his legacy, the Robert LaFollette Prize in Social Science was established to recognize the best doctoral thesis.

In addition, the Ball State Alumni Association commissioned Nham Chi, a South Vietnamese artist, to paint his portrait.

He attended Indiana University before earning his degree from Ball State where he did additional graduate work.

Upon his retirement from Ball State in December 1956, Clevenger carried the title of emeritus Director of Placement.

Currently, plans to make a new green space on the North-end of Campus where LaFollette used to stand will be completed after the rubble of the demolishing is cleared.

He retired from the Ball State faculty in 1950 but he continued to be an active observer of university affairs.

He returns to Indiana from his home, in May to spend the summer and fall months attending campus educational, sporting, and social events.

John M. Shales was part of the Ball State faculty and retired in 1960 after thirty-one years.

The hall reopened in the 2018-2019 year to make up for the lost rooms from the demolished towers brought down in the summer of 2017.

LaFollete field is also used mostly by the Ball State University Pride of Mid-America Marching Band during the fall semester for rehearsals.

In an ironic twist of fate, all of the Woody / Shales and half of the Mysch / Hurst Halls of the LaFollette Dormitory Complex to the west were demolished in 2017.

The new student lounges, with large plate glass windows on every floor of the newly renovated Johnson buildings, face precisely in the direction of Lafollette Field.