Drury holds public grand opening for highly anticipated new building

To announce the opening of its first new building in 20 years, Drury University invited those inside and outside the Drury community to witness a mayoral proclamation and ribbon cutting to celebrate the public grand opening. 

Drury leadership held the public grand opening for the OBT, or C.H. “Chub” O’Reilly Enterprise Center, Breech School of Business and Judy Thompson Executive Conference Center on Oct. 28, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. The celebration was in the new building and included talks from the Drury University Board of Trustees chair Rita Baron, Mayor Ken McClure, Drury University president Dr. J. Timothy Cloyd and Drury University Student Government Association president Tyler Buff.

According to Baron’s speech at the event, Drury funded the OBT entirely by private donations gathered from 2016 to 2021. Backers donated through “Go Beyond: The Campaign for Drury University”. The fundraising initiative raised $73 million, becoming the “largest fundraising effort in Drury’s history,” said Baron. Drury held the groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 29, 2020, and construction has continued since then. 

Drury leadership held the public grand opening in Sunderland Forum, the ceiling strewn with black, silver, red and white balloons. Baron, McClure, Cloyd and Buff all spoke to the crowd from a podium at the front of the room and were joined by virtual speakers of the O’Reilly family by means of a screen above. The O’Reilly family spoke first and expressed gratitude towards “Chub” O’Reilly being chosen as the namesake for the Enterprise Center as well as thanked all who donated to the project. Baron then spoke about the project and introduced a video on “Go Beyond”. 

Afterwards, McClure gave his declaration, bridging the gap between the Drury community and the Springfield community. He expressed the importance of the new building to Drury University and its growth.

“The Enterprise Center reflects an emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation that keenly balances learning by study and learning by the influence of your Drury Fusion curriculum,” McClure said. 

After McClure finished, Cloyd took the podium and further explained what the OBT is and how it will change Drury. 

“Anchored by the Breech School of Business Administration, this landmark structure will also house political science, international affairs, computer science, mathematics, The Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship, the Robert and Mary Cox Compass Center, the Judy Thompson Executive Conference Center: all to form the C.H. “Chub” O’Reilly Enterprise Center,” Cloyd said. Cloyd and others speaking at the event praised the OBT as a future space of collaboration and diverse thought that will build upon the liberal arts education Drury offers.

Following Cloyd’s speech, him and other Drury leaders, such as Board of Trustees members, gathered around a large, red ribbon pulled from another room. They led a countdown which ended with said Drury leaders cutting the ribbon to flashing cameras and the cheering audience. While there was a time capsule burial planned after this, Buff explained that they buried it ahead of time: a rarity for college students, according to Buff. Buff also ran down a list of all that was buried, including a Drury mask and poetry written by Drury Professor Jo Van Arkel. 

The event soon dispersed, but the audience explored the newly opened space. Almost every room has a view looking over campus and many have some furnishings. A sign inside the building announces an upcoming Einstein Bros. Bagels, and balloons decorate the building throughout. While the building might not be finished, both the speeches and space remind the Drury community of the OBT’s possibilities. 

“The silos that have plagued higher education will be broken down here, allowing students to not only learn from faculty from different disciplines in the classroom, but also from each other in the shared collaborative spaces here,” said Cloyd.

Article by Zoey Mueller