An elaborate chandelier shed light on tables topped with tall white roses on Thursday night in the tent on Metzger Lawn. Security guards with ear bud communication stood post outside the tent. Guests walked in to the Delegate’s Dinner after dropping their cars off with valet attendants.
The inauguration weekend of the eighth president of Biola was the biggest event the campus has seen yet. Despite the regal display in honor of Barry H. Corey, the eighth inaugurated president of Biola said the pageantry wasn’t about him.
“Whatever we do, including this convocation today, which is not about Biola and is certainly not about Barry, we do it for the glory of God,” Corey said in his presidential address on Friday morning.
“A moment like this hasn’t happened in 25 years,” Corey said in an interview with The Chimes later that day. “These are moments for Biola, far more than they are for a person. These are the moments [in which] we all gather around and reaffirm who we are, what we stand for, and [that] we’re in this thing together as we move forward.”
From alumni and faculty, to university presidents and childhood friends of Corey, Thursday night brought together the who’s who of Biola and beyond. Eboney Anderson, congressional aide to Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, came out for the event to show her support for the school.
“An inauguration for the president is an important event,” said Anderson, while sampling appetizers on her table. “We have a really good relationship with the university already, and we just want to continue that on and be here to personally welcome him aboard.”
While the crowd mingled outside in the candlelit courtyard in their cocktail dresses and suits, an older couple who has loved Biola for years sat inside. Maxine and Richard Fralick, (an alumnus) knew the last three presidents and weren’t about to miss seeing the new one.
“We just grew up with Biola so we just met everybody as time went along,” Mrs. Fralick said.
The event was also a time to celebrate the completion of a presidential search.
“It’s just a celebratory time for all of us that were in on the search process,” said Hannah Lee, a member of the board of trustees who delivered the invocation prayer at Friday’s ceremony.
“It’s just amazing to see God’s faithfulness and how from the first time that we met Dr. Corey somehow we knew that he was just a special person. To see it all coming to fruition like this is just so exciting,” Lee said.
The selection qualifications, according to President Emeritus Clyde Cook, were extensive. Cook said he himself didn’t meet the qualifications for the new president. Despite the differences in resumes, Corey acknowledged that he has huge shoes to fill.
Several close friends of Corey were invited to speak and commemorate this day in the life of Corey at the Thursday night’s Delegate’s Dinner. Corey later told of his uneasiness at not knowing what his good friends would reveal about him.
“I was really nervous ‘cause these guys know me,” Corey said.
As each of the four friends got up to speak, they began by telling stories about their past with Corey and then commissioned him to his new role. They knew him as a runner, an outrageous college student and a man of prayer, but most of all, as a true friend.
Friday morning opened with all the pomp and circumstance of a graduation. Students wearing jeans and carrying their morning coffee filed in on red carpet to the triumphant music of Biola’s orchestra in the back of Chase Gymnasium.
Despite the hype of the inauguration, Robert Cooley, president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, emphasized that this event wasn’t about Corey.
“I wish to remind you, Barry, that inauguration is what someone does to you. Presidents do not inaugurate, they get inaugurated,” Cooley said. “You have been summoned and this is a call that comes to you beyond yourself. So walk in this sacred call.”
In front of hundreds of Biola faculty and trustees dressed in their academic robes, Corey stood to give his address. He didn’t just explain how grateful he was for the position. Instead, he emphasized his confidence in Biola’s future.
“So what–they have torn jeans and wild hair and pierced noses and live in this Facebook, YouTube world,” Corey said. “What gives me hope is that I see these students digging into the Bible … and they work hard to make God’s word relevant to their culture.”
But he didn’t stop at the praise. He went on to introduce his plans for the future.
“Now more than ever we must attract and nurture diversity representing different ethnicities and cultures,” said Corey.
And while calling Biola to greater academic rigor, Corey called the school to a stance of humility.
“If the object of our belief is this academic surging up the U.S. News and World Report ratings ladder, that’s not God’s glory, that’s pride,” Corey said.
For an official prayer for the office of president, Cooley took the pulpit and invited Corey’s family to surround their kneeling father and husband.
After the ceremony, the music led them out in triumphant recession, much like a wedding, as Corey later noted.
“It was almost like last night was the rehearsal dinner and today was the wedding,” Corey said. “It had a little bit of that feeling with the photographs and the dinner last night and the big pageantry today.”
The only downside to this wedding is that there is no honeymoon, Corey said.
“Now it’s kind of rolling up our sleeves and working as a team and going through the valleys and the mountains and moving forward together,” Corey said. “It’s not always easy to do that, but we’re on the way now.”
