Oberlin Student Cooperative Association
OSCA, or the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association, is a 1.78 million dollar non-profit corporation that feeds 630 and houses 175 Oberlin students. It is the third largest student cooperative in North America and by far the largest for a school of Oberlin's small size. OSCA operates four housing and dining co-ops: Keep, Tank, Old Barrows, and Harkness; and five dining only co-ops: Fairchild, Pyle Inn, Kosher Halal, Third World, and the Brown Bag Co-op. (Fuller is an off-campus house owned by OSCA Properties that houses six people.)
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[edit] Structure
OSCA employs one full time employee: a Financial Manager (currently Iris Hunt); and two part time employees: the Office Intern and the Food Safety Coordinator. OSCA members fill all other positions, which cover a broad spectrum, for example: President of OSCA, Publications Coordinator, head cook, and kitchen prep. In addition, every member of OSCA cleans up after at least one meal each week ("crew").
Every spring, OSCA members vote for the corporation's officers for the next year. These officers, along with the Operations Managers, the Cleanliness and Maintenance Coordinators, the OSCA/College Liaison, Housing Coordinator, Education Coordinator, and Accessibilities Coordinator, make up the General Management Team, or the GMT. The GMT deals with the day-to-day operations of the co-ops.
The OSCA Board of Directors consists of the GMT, the Accessibilities Coordinators, two representatives from every member co-op, and any other interested members who choose to attend. The Board meets each Thursday evening in a different host co-op, and the proposal brought to the board are discussed with the membership of each co-op during a weekly board night.
A recent development (2002) in OSCA politics is the institution of COPAO, the Committee on Privilege and Oppression, which explores racial and socio-economic inequality within the cooperative system.
[edit] OSCA Cooperative Principles
From OSCA's web site:
- The principles which guide modern cooperative organizations including OSCA were formulated in 1844 by a group of textile workers in Rochdale, England who were fed up with the exploitative nature of the market during the British Industrial Revolution. They decided to pool their money and open a small retail store which operated on principles which have become the foundation of modern co-ops.
- These principles are:
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- Open membership
- Democratic control
- Limited return, if any, on equity capital
- Distribution of economic savings
- Education of members
- Cooperation among cooperatives
- Political nonpartisanship
[edit] All-OSCA Activities and Operations
The Oberlin cooperatives cooperate among themselves to run several larger operations. These include:
In addition, co-ops often contribute to other campus and community events such as the Big Parade in the form of donations of money and food.
[edit] Opinions
[edit] From LiveJournal
“co-oping in general is an excellent experience. You get better food (most of the time), more responsibility for your own lifestyle (and the freedom that goes with that), and it's actually cheaper than living in a dorm and/or eating in a cafeteria.” --
mirrizin, June 2008 [1]
“i feel like co-ops are really a toss up, and i definitely see the potential for a great community, even though i never experienced it myself.... i think that co-ops are better done later in college, unless you are a very independent sort of person.” --insipidity, June 2008 [2]
“Living in a co-op let me make older friends, which turned out to be enormously helpful in knowing what was going on in oberlin (navigating the bureaucracy of the college, important yearly social events, etc.) during the school year.” --0hme0hmy, June 2008 [3]
“Reasons to do OSCA: Cost-effective. Some people say the communities are good.
Reasons not to do OSCA: Dirty living spaces, mediocre food (though digestionally safer) COPAO (a group that allegedly tells everyone they're racists and they think wrong; though I'm not totally familiar with them and can't say they're pure evil since I've stayed away from OSCA myself). Not that I hate OSCA. I just don't see the draw other than the low cost and the community (though I didn't feel very comfortable in any co-op communities I visited last year). Also, don't think you have to do OSCA to fit in. Most people don't do it.” --ominousneutral, June 2008 [4]
“...not all of us find OSCA's food mediocre. I ate in CDS my first year and it was the biggest mistake of my Oberlin career thus far. Admittedly, the co-op food is less predictable than CDS (and of course, the quality varies from co-op to co-op), but co-op food is definitely better for you and, in most cases, tastes better too. I ate in Old B this past year and the food was delicious. I also ate as a guest sometimes in Fairkid, Pyle, Tank, and Keep, and thought that the food was good in all of them. (Although Fairkid can be a bit too vegan/whole grain-y for my taste.) I've also heard good things about Harkness' food, although I've never eaten there myself. I don't know much about Kosher or Third World because they're much more closed-off. Anyways, even if you decide not to live in OSCA, you should think about eating in a co-op—it's a great way to meet people if you end up living in a dorm that's not very social, and I think most people quickly get sick of the dining hall food. I'm not at all the OSCA "type"—I lived off of fast food and microwave meals throughout high school—but I've really come to love OSCA food. Ben mentioned that it's cost-effective—you save about $2000 a year just by dining in OSCA. It's great. Admittedly, there are some downsides: COPAO is obnoxious and the discussion system is a bit cumbersome. But overall, the pros far outweigh the cons.” --anonymous, June 2008 [5]
