Instead of using this background step, you could use the following step definitions defined in general_steps.rb:

<pre><code>Given /^there is 1 [pP]roject with(?: the following)?:$/ do |table|
  p = FactoryGirl.build(:project)
  send_table_to_object(p, table)
end

Then /^the project "([^"]*)" is( not)? public$/ do |project_name, negation|
  p = Project.find_by_name(project_name)
  p.update_attribute(:is_public, !negation)
end</code></pre>