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| April 5 , 2005
40th Anniversary Edition |
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Graphic by Rebecca Straughmatt
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| Gov. Samuel P. Goddard (right) and Congress-man John J. Rhodes were the first VIP visitors at MCC when the school first opened. |
MCC proves vital pit-stop for political ‘Who’s Who'
Benjamin Buettner
Mesa Legend
President George W. Bush, Sen. John McCain and environmental advocate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were among the many high profile visits Mesa Community College has landed in recent years.
“MCC is very accommodating,” said political science professor and co-adviser to the College Democrats, Brian Dille.
Dille helped facilitate the Kennedy visit, Oct. 8, with the College Democrats as RFK Jr. promoted his book “Crimes Against Nature,” which shed light on environmental issues being ignored by President Bush.
Though the hard work was done by the college Democrats to bring in RFK Jr., ultimately the Environmental Action Club sponsored the event because MCC did not want a political statement, by Kennedy, sponsored by the College Democrats around election time, according to Dille.
Bush had attempted to make a statement earlier in 2004 when he visited MCC in January, as part of his High Growth Job Initiative for the Department of Labor.
Before the visit, “MCC was recognized by compTIA (Computer Technology Industry Association)” because it was highly technical and exciting, explained Pinney Sheoran, MCC executive director for the Business and Industry Institute.
The Bush Administration was interested in attracting votes from the Western states because 2004 was an election year.
Another motive that may have stapled the Bush Administration’s decision to visit MCC was that Mesa is “a very Republican city,” Sheoran said.
MCC’s large campus is beneficial and appealing to visitors. “MCC is so big it does its own recruiting,” said Jordan Beck, president of MCC College Democrats, about the college’s population of more than 27,000 students and the appeal that brings these highly visible visits. “There are so many opportunities at MCC, I love coming here,” Beck said.
Beck and the MCC College Democrats were partly responsible for bringing such names as Kennedy, Kate Edwards (daughter of 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards), and Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson.
The political science department had a large hand in bringing in former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean, Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake and McCain.
Dille assigned honors students, as part of their honors assignment, to send out invitations for visits to 11 prominent foreign policy related individuals to speak at MCC on foreign policy and Iraq.
“I was really proud of the students taking initiative to do that. Part of being a college requires offering a forum for people to make their own decisions on issues. The community in community college is taken seriously at MCC.”
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