At first glance, you may think a fun-filled event with free food, intercultural activities and a film festival was brought to DU by an external organization. Turns out, DU students — with the help of the Denver Sikh community — are the masterminds behind the entire thing.
The Langar@DU is a student-led, community-partnered event that will be returning for its third year here on campus, taking place on June 1 on the Boettcher lawn, located west of Olin Hall.
First of all, what is Langar? Langar (pronounced “LUNG-er”) is a monumental part of the Sikh culture, in the form of a Gurdwara (a Sikh kitchen) and the act of serving vegetarian meals to all who want to take part, every single day.
The entire Langar is run by volunteers. In fact, in the Sikh religion, it’s considered a privilege to get to serve Langar. Langar is offered daily by every single Gurdwara in the world. On June 1, students from adjunct professor Marji Karish’s communications class titled “Inclusive Community” will be bringing the Langar to campus.
Karish had previously partnered with Dilpreet Jammu, the Executive Director of the Colorado Sikhs, to put on an intercultural Langar for the entire Denver community, but it wasn’t until 2021 that Langar took place on campus.
When Karish’s communications department gave her the opportunity to develop a course as part of her PhD work, she reached out to see if the Colorado Sikhs would want to partner with DU. They have been working closely with students ever since.
The initial weeks of class consisted of learning about the Sikh culture, Langar and ways of forming an inclusive community. During week four, the entire class visited a Gurdwara in Denver and helped serve Langar to one another.
When the logistics phase rolled around, students chose to be on one of three teams: food, marketing or event planning. Within these teams, there were subsets of students who chose to work on more specific action items such as parking, work orders and the film festival.
With help from community partners at Sikhlens, a Sikh film-making company, the film festival is a brand new aspect of Langar and will take place in both Margery Reed and Anderson Academic Commons.
Many community members are uneducated on the pillars of the Sikh religion, and the significant history behind the culture. Many of the films, directed and produced by members of the Sikh community, aim to fill those gaps.
The film festival will feature a student-moderated Q&A with Davinder Singh and Harjus Singh Sethi, two of the filmmakers. At the end, “Rhymes with Hunger,” a short film about last year’s Langar, is planned to be premiered, followed by a Q&A with the previous year’s Langar organizers.
Senior psychology and sociology major Ian Kang, who led the planning of the film festival, expressed his excitement for Langar and the festival.
“I am most excited about getting to see 10 weeks of hard work from our entire class culminate into something really awesome,” said Kang.
Every event like this comes with a challenge. This year, it was the change in location due to the ongoing encampment happening on Carnegie Green. Students scrambled to make a plan B, while handling the situation with grace for those protesting and those affected by the protest.
“I know I can trust the students to move through any uncertainty,” said Karish.
This challenge brought forth many meaningful conversations in and out of class. A large part of the Sikh religion is inclusivity, selflessness and service. There is no us versus them in the Sikh culture, so anyone who wants to join — including members of the encampment — are more than welcome to take part in this event.
Communications and psychology major Audrey Avery is on the marketing team. This group of students had to overcome several “bumps” with the location change, making sure that the updated flyers and press releases included the new location.
“Planning Langar was an ongoing, adaptive process that was heavily reliant on cultural competence and community outreach,” said Avery.
“Students should come to Langar because, besides the free food and the opportunity to learn about Sikh culture, it’s an incredible way to come together and to experience a sense of unity regardless of background, which is what Langar is all about,” said Kang.
When asked about what students should take away from planning this event, Karish responded, “the class comes together not knowing each other at the beginning of the quarter but has an opportunity to form bonds with their fellow classmates as well as with the larger community who returns to the Langar@DU year after year.”
From an academic and professional standpoint, Karish points out that this class also gives students “practical experiences of what it is like to form and work within large groups all focused on a single mission.” From branding and messaging to sustainability and intercultural communication, the course provides practical experiences in just about everything.
Visit here to RSVP to Langar@DU and see more information on their website.
