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Not
everyone in culinary circles is impressed with the Cordon
Bleu imprimatur. French master chef Philippe Boulot, who
commands the dining room at the Heathman, dismisses the
institute as "a cooking school for housewives."
Western
Culinary institute was founded 17 years ago by Portland
restaurateur Horst Mager and sold in 1986 to Career Education
Corp., a network of trade schools.
For
a review of the Western Culinary Institute's recently renovated
restaurant, see this week's Miss
Dish column.
This
month, WCI increased its tuition by $3,600, in part because
of its affiliation with Le Cordon Bleu.
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A year ago, Mary Stewart McCluer assumed she'd be graduating
this week from the Western Culinary Institute with Cordon
Bleu credentials. Instead, she's dropped out and filed a complaint
with the state attorney general's office.
McCluer started classes at the Portland cooking school
last January. For her, this was not a "What do I do with
my liberal arts degree?" decision. McCluer is a lawyer.
But after participating in the Oregon Bar Association's
career-evaluation workshop, she decided to pursue a career
as a chef.
She first considered Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.
The community college charged $2,121 for its respected one-year
cooking school, a fraction of the $16,270 tuition that the
privately owned Western Culinary Institute was asking. In
the end McCluer chose WCI, figuring that the hefty difference
in tuition between the two schools was worth it, in part
because of its much-ballyhooed partnership with Le Cordon
Bleu, a deal that was actually sealed only late last year.
McCluer says the CB emblem embossed on a culinary art student's
diploma means "the difference between night and day in culinary
circles." Certainly, the 105-year-old Parisian cooking school
has name recognition going for it. After all, Julia Child
got her start dabbling around with crème frâiche
and tarte Tatin in CB kitchens back in the '50s.
WCI also considered the partnership important enough to
begin running ads in magazines like Fine Cooking
and Gourmet in their October issues, touting its
status as one of only six CB-affiliated schools in the nation.
Before that, McCluer and her classmates had been greeted
during their first week of classes with sheet cakes left
over from a corporate party iced with the words, "Le Cordon
Bleu Welcomes You."
There was only one problem: The deal hadn't been finalized
between WCI and Le Cordon Bleu. That meant the CB accreditation
wouldn't be available to the class of '99, a fact that McCluer
and others say wasn't made clear until a special meeting
held in September--eight months after classes began.
School administrator Eric Stromquist concedes that some
students thought they'd be CB-certified. He attributes the
mix-up to the excitement and anticipation infusing the atmosphere
at the institute during protracted negotiations between
WCI and Le Cordon Bleu.
McCluer and two classmates interviewed by WW said
they were given the clear impression that their diplomas
would have the CB seal of approval. Nina Kaminski, for example,
says she double-checked with her admissions representative
about his promise of CB accreditation. She says he assured
her that current enrollment and tuition would include the
famous seal embossed on her diploma.
WW was able to speak with only one admissions recruiter,
Anita Totman, who would not comment on whether she had promised
CB accreditation to incoming students.
Stromquist claims that he emphasized in every meeting with
recruiters and administrators that the CB accreditation
would only be available to students enrolling in January
2000. Still, he says he has very little control over what
actually happens in admissions interviews.
Stromquist says he's struck a compromise of sorts. Le Cordon
Bleu reluctantly agreed to offer students in the 1999 program
a chance to earn the coveted seal by enrolling in additional
classes and taking an exam for a fee of $1,600, which Stromquist
calls a bargain. "Tempers may have been high at first,"
he says. "But things have settled down since we negotiated
this option."
Well, maybe. In October, McCluer filed a complaint against
Western Culinary with the state attorney general's office.
The AG's office decided not to pursue the complaint but
last month forwarded it to the Oregon Department of Education,
which is considering its merits.
As for McCluer, she ended up at Clark College, where she
will graduate in June. She's now working in the kitchen
of the Multnomah Athletic Club.
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Willamette Week | originally
published January 26,
2000
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