There is talk that the relations of the campus and community are "bad". Well, we sometimes overlook the "good" too:

Cultural

-international students have and is still are known to come to local schools to teach about their unique ethnic "minority" cultural background.

Economic

-UMM Students are employed throughout the community

Educational
-UMM Student continue to volunteer with intergenerational learning (e.g. TREC, Big Friend/Little Friend)

Food

Hmmm... good! We had a great campus-community bridging supper last night (Monday, January 26th of 2009), which is the first in a series of 4 (last Mondays of every month till April-end of school year at UMM) at...

Living Legacy, Ltd.
(corner of California Ave. & E. 6th St.; south of the U.S. Post Office; east of the Morris Public Library;

)

Morris Community Meals offer recipe for forging relationships Posted by Matthew A Johnson (Morris campus Local Foods Intern) on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009
"Morris residents and Morris campus students gathered January 26 at Legacy Living Limited in Morris to prepare a warm, healthy meal to serve to the community. The event is the first in a series of four monthly meals that will take place during the Spring Semester. Morris Community Meal is a collaborative project of students, community members and local businesses that have partnered to provide free meals to Morris residents and to promote a strong, vibrant community.
The meal, open to every member of the Morris-area community and entirely free of charge, will be served on the last Monday of every month throughout the spring semester—January 26, February 23, March 30 and April 27. Meals will be served from 5:30 to 7 p.m. All community members are invited help cook and prepare the meal by arriving at Legacy Living any time between 3 and 5:30 p.m. the afternoon of the meal. Legacy Living Limited is located at 108 E 6th Street in Morris.
Support for Morris Community Meal will be provided by a broad coalition of local businesses and organizations. To date, the collaborating and sponsoring organizations include: Legacy Living Limited, Stevens FORWARD!, Bremer Bank, Bello Cucina, Mobiz Computers, Hoffman Realty, John's Total Entertainment, Willie's Super Valu, Pomme de Terre Food Co-op, Stevens County Food Shelf and Hometown Bakery.
Carol McCannon, Morris campus Community Service and Volunteerism coordinator, said: “By bringing people together over food, we hope to strengthen the bonds in the Morris community between students and community members, between the young and the elderly, between the various diverse cultures represented by our city's population. We hope to create the space for people to cook, eat and interact as a community.”
Lauren Dennhardt, Morris campus Student Volunteerism coordinator, added: “Morris Community Meal seeks to create space for people to come together and enjoy the process of preparing and eating healthy food with other members of their community. We believe that sharing food can be a transformative experience that promotes rich human relationships and an interconnected community."

There was a reported 100+ in attendance from both the campus-community! I personally had a great supper meeting UMM students. One of them is a Chemistry major from Iowa, who proudly shared his intense course load. While an elderly lady right side of me proudly shared her Norwegian culture with us.

Government/Political

-UMM's MCSA (student body government) takes part locally in politics by going to the State Capitol annual to help lobby our state government on issues, programs, and projects (e.g. RFC) that benefit the campus and community as a whole.

Religious-Spiritual
-UMM Students have and still are known to take leadership positions in the local churches (e.g. youth pastor, children's church/daycare) -Annual Picnic in the Park

Sports/Recreational

-UMM Cougar Football Team takes a day to host "Day Care at the Park" (East Side Park) early in their season before Fall Semester begins

.....for more contributions of UMM students to the community