The Kozmetsky Center celebrated the opening of its new headquarters last Wednesday, moving into the renovated carriage house and ending years of borrowed spaces across campus.
The grand opening drew community leaders, students and local organizations from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Constitution Day. Former Mayor Steve Adler and representatives from the YMCA were among those attending the event, which featured live music, food trucks and campus activities.
“We want the community to know that there is space for them to come on campus and engage in conversation with students and to have students work with them on solving those real world problems,” stated David Thomason, Executive Director of the Kozmetsky Center.
The Center, established in 2010, aiming to promote civic engagement among students, previously held meetings in borrowed conference rooms and scattered events across campus. The newly renovated headquarters offers podcast rooms and a large open workspace but, most importantly, “a solid roof over our heads,” explained Allison Brooks, assistant director of behavioral and social sciences programs.
“We were doing our meetings in a conference room, we were doing our events spread around campus, always having to rely on others,” said Brooks. “This really allows us to operate sort of autonomously.”
Located in the heart of campus, near Moody Hall and the campus bookstore, the headquarters aims to make civic engagement more accessible to students, according to Brooks.
“We want our campus community and our students to know who represents them, what laws are passing, when city council meets, when state legislature meets, where to vote, how to vote,” said Brooks when discussing the mission of the Kozmetsky Center. “We’re just going to inform the campus community about the laws that govern them and how they can be involved.”
According to Kozmetsky intern Marlee Claes, “civic engagement is just being engaged in your community in an impactful way,” and now the center can point to a physical place where students can learn more about their community and how to be more engaged with issues that matter to them.
Since Thomason became director in 2023, the center has shifted from its previous focus of international politics and guest speakers toward local community engagement. The change reflects broader concerns about civic trust, Thomason said.
“A great majority of Americans do not trust anything associated with government, the media, institutions,” he said. “We have an aspirational goal of improving the trust and understanding and equipping people with the values so they can be responsible, engaged and thoughtful citizens.”
The center’s fall programming is all centered around the First Amendment. They are diving into the five rights within the amendment allowing for different variations and interpretations of the law.
Their next event, “Read ‘Dem Bad Books: An Event On Public Libraries & The First Amendment,” is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Oct. 8 at the Carriage House followed by an evening documentary screening of “The Librarian” at Alamo Draft House on Slaughter Lane.
Wednesday’s celebration featured a live performance by “The Avocados,” a local band, breakfast tacos, pastries and coffee in the morning, followed by a live debate with undergraduate political science students and a free P. Terry’s food truck catering free burgers to the first 50 attendees. The event concluded with a raffle for Austin City Limits Festival wristbands.
“We had a food truck, a successful food truck, and now we have a brick and mortar, now we want a Michelin star restaurant, that’s where we want to be,” Thomason said.
