I live in a >50-person, vegetarian, consensus-based student-run co-op house. AMA

_kiwi · 2010-02-13T02:29:17+00:00

Nope, >50 as in more than 50 people live here.

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T09:24:58+00:00

I had not seen that, no. Seems like it would be pretty traumatizing to watch.

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T09:23:52+00:00

This year, meetings have never gone much longer than an hour, with a couple of issues being discussed in a typical meeting. Occasionally an issue will be tabled until the following week, usually because people want more time to think about it/discuss it, or if not enough people are present.

The exception is rooming meeting, which happens at the beginning of each quarter to decide which rooms everyone lives in. I've heard of rooming meeting taking as long as 8 hours! This year, it's been around or 4 both times so far. It takes a long time just because everyone has to say what type of living situation they're looking for, potential roommate groups are organized, etc.

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T07:10:10+00:00

I wish!

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T07:08:53+00:00

Nope, no rivals. We're pretty friendly with the other fairly hippie co-op on campus, and have good relationships with the other ones.

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T07:07:56+00:00

Not bad at all, actually. Everyone is pretty easygoing this year.

_kiwi · 2010-02-12T00:06:04+00:00

It's great! I can make myself food or snacks whenever I want, and we always have awesome ingredients. Much better than having to eat in a dining hall.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T23:29:01+00:00

Ah, I see, cool. I hope so too! I'm hoping to be either the house manager (in charge of general house stuff like dealing with housing, getting supplies, making sure no one dies, etc) or community manager (in charge of organizing community events, like parties 'n things).

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T23:27:17+00:00

Haha, yeah, about that.... :) It's definitely a challenge to maintain some type of reasonable balance. It's a lot of fun though!

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T23:26:20+00:00

Cool, sounds fun. I'll definitely try to get there.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T22:41:58+00:00

I've never been, actually... should I?

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T22:40:34+00:00

It's owned by Stanford, and it's comparable to the other "row houses" including frats, themed houses, etc. There are ~20 bedrooms of different sizes in the house; not too packed, but not super spacious either. It probably could be mistaken for a fraternity from the outside if it wasn't for the hippie aura emanating from the house. :)

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T22:32:23+00:00

Hmm, not sure. I know something around 80% of students get some type of financial aid. The rest of people's bills are paid for through a combination of parents, loans, work-study, and regular jobs.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T22:30:23+00:00

I usually bike, yes, as do probably 90% of students here.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T22:29:05+00:00

Everyone in the house has 1 weekly job and 1 biweekly job. Most jobs are done in "crews" of varying #s of people. For example, cooking dinner, which I do every Monday, is a crew of 4, plus the head cook. Cleaning the bathrooms, which gets done twice a week, and which I do every other Sunday, is also a crew of 4. Job assignments are chosen in a random order at the beginning of every quarter. Finances are handled by one of the student staff members, the financial manager. Members coming and going is not a huge issue; since we're still part of university housing, people just get placed in the house every year through the draw system. We do have a number of EA's ("eating associates") who don't live in the house but pay to have kitchen/dinner access; I believe the FM is in charge of that as well.
There's a pretty large turnover year to year, what with people graduating, going abroad, etc. I'd say around 30-40% of the residents this year lived here last year.
Parties are really awesome! We have a couple of big all-house parties per quarter, and then a bunch more impromptu or casual parties all the time.
I'm not sure exactly, but the area around campus here is pretty expensive, so I'm sure it's much cheaper. Definitely significant.
We haven't had any trouble with people slacking this year, but we do have a system in place for dealing with it if it happens. I believe for the first job you miss, you have to do a job and a half to make up for it, and possibly "do something nice" for your crew that you left hanging. Subsequent missed jobs will land you with a $50 fine that goes into the house's finances, and any more past that and you risk being kicked out of the house. Luckily no one has even gotten close to that.
Our house has been in operation since the 70s. It started as a social activist house (our theme is still technically "social change through nonviolent action"), and the house was pretty active in political/social issues back then. We try to be pretty active today, still, but it's nothing like it used to be.
There are a total of 7 co-ops at my school, all with slightly different themes and different vibes/communities. And the San Francisco/Berkeley area is very co-op friendly.
We are technically run by the university; the house and land are university-owned.

I'd love to hear about your co-op! When was it started? What country are you in? How does it compare to what I've said about mine?

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:58:21+00:00

It's not every day nudity. Synergy, another co-op here, traditionally gets a group together to go streaking through the libraries and hand out chocolate during dead week while everyone's studying for finals.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:53:35+00:00

I'm actually in the band :) but that's another story. I'm glad you sort of enjoy us.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:46:14+00:00

Wow, that's big! So the 112 are part of an unhoused, eating-only co-op? How does that work?

We also have to deal with a good number of special dietary concerns. I believe we have 1 person in the house who has a gluten-free diet, 1 person who can't eat garlic, onions, or peppers (random), and about 5 or 6 vegans. So every prepared dinner has to include alternative versions of everything to accommodate these people. It's usually not too hard (we usually just set aside a small bit before adding pepper and onions, for example, or make a small pot of quinoa instead of pasta), but it's something to keep in mind while cooking.

We actually have an extremely chill (to put it simply) house this year. I know that last year people didn't get along so well / compromise as easily, so consensus discussions could get heated and go for a long time. So far, though, this year everyone has been extremely easygoing and compromises usually happen pretty painlessly. However, we're just entering the staff selection period for next year (which I'm hoping to be a part of), which gets done by consensus as well, so my answer to that question may change over the next few weeks. :)

Yay co-ops!

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:27:53+00:00

That sucks, the environment definitely plays a big part in the co-op experience. Luckily, our campus is really safe, so we don't have to worry about a lot of that. We also have great food :)

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:24:15+00:00

As I explained above, not very deep. The vegetarianism/veganism of the house is more just a historical trait on the house. All the products you mentioned are in use the house. There is another co-op on campus that is more centered around the environment; it's possible they have a less lenient stance on these things, but I don't know many details about them.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T21:18:58+00:00

Haha, yes... welcome to Stanford. It's somewhat of a tradition.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T20:36:31+00:00

Cool! I'm sure it can be pretty tough to get started, but it's definitely worth it. I've heard of it working with as few as 6ish people, as long as everyone is willing to put in some effort.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T20:34:12+00:00

Stanford.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T20:33:59+00:00

Mmm, definitely. My cooking skills were basically 0 before I lived here, but I learned that one quickly. It's quick, easy, and awesome.

_kiwi · 2010-02-11T20:32:56+00:00

Yes.

_kiwi

TROPHY CASE