August 26, 2008
Convention '08: Delegates Show Their Commitment to Education -- Between Bites
The Career College Association didn’t need to hire a caterer for the reception it threw today aimed at keeping higher education front and center in the minds (and stomachs) of delegates to the Democratic National Convention. That’s one of the advantages of being an association with a nearby culinary college in your membership ranks.
Using the Art Institute of Colorado as its venue, the association feted a couple of hundred delegates and others with dishes prepared by students — grilled skirt steak garnished with pesto, Gorgonzola cheese, and arugula, a chicken-and-penne pasta dish, and tiramisu for dessert — while also entertaining them with demonstrations of the ice- and watermelon-sculpting skills and industrial-design techniques taught at the institute.
Harris Miller, president of the association, said he hoped the event’s message would stick with the delegates long after the rich food had been digested. “Neither presidential campaign has spoken enough about higher education and the importance of career education to our economy,” said Mr. Miller, in an telephone interview from Denver.
Mr. Miller said the political leaders needed to focus more on how education could help the country improve its economic competitiveness, but so far, he said, those debates have centered on other issues. “The people who hate immigrants and the people who hate trade are more vocal,” he said. “It’s kind of frustrating.”
The event, which was promoted as a reception to “honor Democrats committed to higher education,” featured brief remarks from Rep. George Miller of California, chairman of the House education committee, as well as Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York. Mr. Altmire, a first-term congressman, is one of several recently elected Democrats who have become advocates for for-profit colleges, which make up most of the association’s nearly 1,300 member institutions.
Officials from three for-profit colleges — Richard Jerue of the Art Institute of Charleston, Sharon Thomas Parrott of DeVry Inc., and Shaun McAlmont of Lincoln Educational Services — also spoke. The association plans to hold a similar event at an Art Institutes International of Minnesota next week, during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
Goldie Blumenstyk | Posted on Tuesday August 26, 2008 | Permalink
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