Photo courtesy of the Ceiling Connoisseurs

Oakland University is home to over 300 different student organizations, with new clubs emerging throughout the year. One of these new clubs on campus is the Ceiling Connoisseurs, a club inspired by beautiful ceilings.  

The Ceiling Connoisseurs meet every other Wednesday at the Oakland Center, with weekly meetings to come next semester. The group’s meetings typically involve discussions and debates on different types of ceilings. Later meetings will involve guest speakers and club trips to view great ceilings in the area.

A big part of the club is dressing the part. While any ceiling club can simply talk about ceilings, the Ceiling Connoisseurs converse while dressing to the nines. 

Robert Quigley, the Ceiling Connoisseurs’ president, explains why the Ceiling Club members wear formal outfits for their meetings.

“Connoisseur is such a fancy word,” Quigley said. “To me, what comes to mind are wine connoisseurs, the fanciest people. If we’re going to be connoisseurs, we have to commit to the bit. We’re gonna dress up and play the part because you can’t just be a connoisseur without the mindset of a connoisseur.”

Although originally intended as a joke among friends, the club is more than just two random words slapped together. 

Quigley explains how the number of people helped the Ceiling Connoisseurs grow past a joke into a real club.

“I was really hoping [the club would get to become official],” Quigley said. “I don’t think I actually thought it would be a real club at the time. Around the beginning of the year, I was like, ‘Alright, now that we have more people, we can make it a real club.’ It took a while though.”

While OU clubs primarily use GrizzOrgs to share their club information, Aaron Bryan, the Ceiling Connoisseurs’ vice president, comments on how Discord has been effective in spreading the club.

“It’s [Discord has] been a lot better than GrizzOrgs,” Bryan said. “Right now, we have 20 members on GrizzOrgs, but on Discord, we have over 100. We get submissions all the time.”

Despite the club’s silly nature, the Ceiling Connoisseurs has brought together a diverse array of OU students.

Logan Pizzurro, the Ceiling Connoisseurs’ treasurer, explains why the club is so special.

“It’s a silly club, and we all know that,” Pizzurro said. “But I think at the same time, it shows that you don’t need something substantial to bring people together. Even something as ridiculous as talking about ceilings is enough to just bring people together, and at the end of the day, I think that’s what we’re all trying to do.

As the Ceiling Connoisseurs have gone from a joke to being a genuine club, Quigley explains the most important aspect is not the ceilings but the connoisseurs themselves.

“I think an important aspect of the club is the people who make up the club,” Quigley said. “It is important to not only appreciate the ceilings but also realize that maybe the real ceiling connoisseurs were the friends we made along the way.”

For more information on the Ceiling Connoisseurs and what they do, visit their GrizzOrg web page and join their Discord server.