Public Engagement

This entry was written by Steve Mullaney, an undergrad at the University of Minnesota, member of the Student Committee on Public Engagement (SCOPE), and student employee in the Office for Public Engagement. It's an interesting account of how engagement can be integrated into student life.

Roughly a year and a half ago I ate at Moti Mahal, an Indian restaurant on 29th and Franklin, with other members of the Global Studies Student Association. At the time I was not yet a global studies student, but hung out with them a lot—including this dinner. This, of course made for some really interesting conversation:

“So, what’s your concentration within global studies?�

“Actually, I’m not in global studies.�

“Really?�

“Really.�

“So, what are you doing here?� I had this conversation about a dozen times that night.

Dinner was complicated. People showed up at various points in the evening and the seating at our table spilled into the aisles. Our bill read like the instruction manual for a nuclear warhead. After much mathematical calculation (not our skill set, although we could name the problematic in the numerical quantification of the basic units of survival) we determined what each person owed.

And then, some guy, stopped the conversation: “I have no money. You will have to pay for me.�

Silence. We glanced around the table nervously, hoping that in a fit of Minnesota Nice someone would do something.

“What did you say, I didn’t quite catch that,� someone choked out.

“I have no money. You will have to pay for me.�

That was what he said. Rrrr.

More uncomfortable silence until finally, Everett and Nadia said that they would take that portion of the bill. We really bonded over the experience which didn’t seem to faze either one of them at all. Everett made casual mention of a pasta dinner that he’d hosted at his apartment. Every Wednesday for the past year or so.

“Could I bring something?� It was free. Whatever. He said that he was more interested in gathering people and having a good time. Charging seemed awkward and a donations jar imposing, so it was free.

And wonderful. Pasta Dinner is one of the freest spaces that I’ve ever been to: every week is different and there have been new people at each dinner. I’ve witnessed a break dance battle, an impromptu soprano sax performance, sing-along’s to Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy� and some of the most interesting conversation I’ve ever had. A Wednesday night fixture, I plan on being a part of the community for a long time.

***

The founding of Pasta Dinner, roughly two and a half years ago, is a great story in public achievement. Two guys, Everett and Bobek, found themselves in a new town without people that they knew. Wanting to create a community they opened up their apartment every Wednesday evening to whoever wanted to stop by for pasta. Quickly, they had the meal down to a science—able to feed dozens of people for under thirty dollars a week. Growth was slow: at first just a few members from an Arabic class, but this has since expanded to include various diverse subcultures: Baha’is, Global Studies students, social justice oriented folks, Irish dancers, band members, residents of Franklin Ave, and so forth.

Space really resonates with people at Pasta Dinner. As soon as people walked in the door they were greeted and made to feel valuable and welcome. Many productive things flowed out of this space, whether it was folks attending lectures or concerts, studying something together, planning events or simply going swimming—the space generated action.

The space worked because of the culture of Pasta Dinner: the focus of pasta dinner is the relationships, not numbers (nobody takes/cares for attendance), or other quantifiable ways (we don’t really measure much of anything at all). These relationships, however, do not exist in a vacuum: because everyone is organized around the concept of building a stronger community, the relationships that we have are productive. Although folks undoubtedly value each other far more than an abstract concept like “public engagement� the concept is in the back of most everyone’s mind—whether they possess the academic language of public engagement or not. Ultimately, because Pasta Dinner is a space which is open—as opposed to one more thing in a busy schedule—folks are able to come and go as they please, be it every week or twice a year.

***

With Pasta Dinner as a model a group of us set out to create a space in the Dinkytown neighborhood which takes advantage of space as opposed to events (one time only things) and programs (movie series, etc.). We want to open up space to take advantage of the flexibility that it allows a group WITHOUT losing the intentionality that comes by focusing on public engagement. Taking advantage of free food as a motivating factor a group of students has been meeting at Duffy’s Pizza every late Tuesday evening with the intention of doing something radical in the community.

Originally focused on throwing some large event, we were all moved by the question “How can we build community externally if we don’t build internally first?� So that’s what we’re doing. Although we haven’t made the news yet, keep an eye out. When a dozen or two folks decide to very consciously pursue community-oriented goals there’s no telling what might happen.

By focusing on creating space, valuing relationships, and really consciously building an internal community which we hope to extend externally we hope to build on the model of Pasta Dinner and forge new ways of doing public engagement for busy people who still care about the neighborhoods they live in.