|
You are viewing
Volume 40, Issue 12
April 8, 2003
To return to the current issue please
click here.
|
 |
April 8, 2003
Presidential campaign reaches MCC
By Andrew James
Mesa Legend
|
|
|
| PHOTO
BY MATT MUELLER/ MESA LEGEND |
| Howard Dean eats a cookie
while waiting to speak on March 11. |
Mesa Community was welcomed to the political arena in an exciting new
way on March 11 when Democratic Presidential Primary Candidate Howard
Dean visited the campus to share viewpoints of his campaign.
Howard Dean graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978,
became involved in politics in 1980 when he volunteered for President
Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign, and later became governor of
Vermont, where he was reelected five times.
Dean of Instruction, Gail Mee, began the assembly by expressing that,
“MCC takes the word ‘community’ in its name seriously and
that means that it values the community it creates within, as well as
the community it serves.”
This project was created from within the classroom, but its impact expanded
to include the entire community as the room of Howard Dean supporters
was filled with people of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
The aspect of community is also one of the reasons why politicians would
be encouraged to come to MCC, explained political science professor Brian
Dille, because state universities often only reflect the students and
not the community.
Dean spoke to the audience of his position on concerns of the community
such as health care, education expense, and concerns such as the situation
with North Korea and the failing economy.
He explained that he would “bring back democrat to the democratic
party.”
Dean’s campaign trail has taken him many places around the nation;
however, MCC was never originally designated as one of them.
Dean’s appearance was the result of a student project that developed
in Dille’s POS 125 class, Issues in World Politics.
Dille explained that the curriculum for the class changes every semester
as issues in the world change, and he assigns his honors students the
task of coming up with a relevant project that the class can participate
in.
This semester, Chris Bach created a project that would bring in politicians
to MCC to talk about foreign policy.
The class began e-mailing and faxing several politicians including Congressman
Jeff Flake, and Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain. When the students
heard back from Dean’s people the class decided to follow up their
efforts by mailing Dean and his scheduler a letter.
Persistence paid off and Bach’s idea began to blossom when Dean gave
word back that he would in fact pay a visit to MCC.
After the assembly, Bach said that the event went as smoothly as anyone
could have planned. Bach also thanked and credited his classmates on doing
a superb job.
Both Dille and Bach are excited that this opportunity may in fact encourage
other politicians to come to MCC as well.
Dille pointed out that Arizona is beginning to become a major player in
determining the outcome of elections.
This aspect combined with the fact that MCC has over 26,000 students registered
for classes increases the prospect of future visits from the political
community.
Back to Top
| Previous Page | Home
|
|
|
