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StudentCo-ops
Traced
19th Century
Project Had
Broad Effect
Mutual Sharing Is
Basis of Movement
By JEAN FAGAN
American student cooperatives,
a segment of the international
cooperative movement have grown
from a small house operated by
a group of University of Michigan
students-to a national organiza-
tion with a membership of sev-
eral thousands.
In 1844, however, the group of
28English weavers who decided to
run a non-profit grocery store at
Rochdale could hardly have
dreamed that their unusual ex-
periment in cooperation would be
followed by millions of people in
almost every nation on the globe.
Fundamental Principle
The group was initiated on a
simple share - and - share - alike
basis, which has remained the
fundamental principle of the co-
operative movement.
Each consumer-member was al-
lowed one Vote, and each received
returns according to his purchases'
and dealings with the enterprise.
Therewas no discrimination, and
everyone helped with the work
and management.
Those Rochdale principles are
maintained today by all co-op
members in the United States
Student Co-ops New
Before the depression of 1929,1
there was no lasting cooperative
activity in American colleges and
universities, although several co-
operatively run stores 'and fac-
tories existed.
In 1932, however, a coopera-
tive room-and-board house was
started at the University which
held on despite depression, pres-
sures, and lack of sufficient funds.
Pine Tree Is
x.rCo-op Symbl
The pine-tree emblem of Amer-
ican cooperatives is more than an
emblem-it is a symbol.
Two green pine trees within a
green circle on a yellow ground
make up the emblem, now used
throughout the U. S. by consumer,
produce and student coopera-
tives.
Evergreens, ancient symbol of
eternal life and endurance, sym-
bolize the enduring quality of co-
operation. Two trees represent the
need of mutual help and their
equal size represent the spirit of
democracy,
The pine-tree symbol was de-
signed by Dr. James P. Warbasse,
president emeritus of the U. S.
Cooperative League.
Co-operatives'
Ann iersary
Marked Here
Michigan House as
Pioneer in Movement
Michigan Co-operative House,
the oldest college room-and-board
7ocperative in the United States, is
;elebrating its sixteenth anniver-
sary this fall.
In 1932, during the depths of
the depression,. thedStudent So-
cialist Club planned to operate
. house where students could ob-
tain low-cost meals and housing.
The group appealed to Ann Ar-
bor citizens for donations of fur-
niture and textbooks, and with the
help of The Michigan Daily and
the Ann Arbor Daily News, were
able to start operating the house.
Complications due to red-tape
and the newness of tthe project
were many and overpowering at
first, but through practice in man-
agement, and under the guidance
of Mrs. Ruth B. Buchanan, the
students were able to keep the
house.
During the sixteen years of its
existence, Michigan House has
known two locations, two names,
and seven hundred students who
have worked and eaten under the
co-op plan.
*~ * .,,
Muriel Lester House, one of the
two women's co-ops, houses 20
students andastudent house-
mother, chosen by the members
and approved by the Dean of
Women.
The house was started in 1940,
and has been in its present quar-
ters since 1942. Despite rising liv-
ing costs, Lester House charges
$6.50 each week for room and
board, a price which is only ,$1.50
higher than that charged in 1943.
The house received national
publicity in '43, when it was fea-
tured as an average campus co-op
in the Saturday Evening Post.
POOLS POW ER :
ICC Welds Co-op Members
Into Utiified Operatingr(houp
By JOlN MORRIS
Five co-op houses, with a total
miembership of 170, operate as ai
single unit, cue to the efforts of
the Inter-Cooperative Council,
which was organized late in 1940.
Made up of students elected
from e h ol the houses, the ICC
pools buying power, handles mem-
bership, and provides a series of
social and educatiiuAtl programs
for the members.
The 1CC purchaser, captain of
the team of purchasers elected
from each house, gathers market
and food information. enabling
them to buy when prices are best
News Affects Prices
Purchasers know that news sto-
ries affect prices: A Florida storm
means a rise in Citrus fruit prices;
a decision bet ween wheat and corn
flakes is based on grain-pit quota-
tions in Chicago.
Ca reful huying methlods hare
improved the relations between
the ICC and business firms, wh
are eager to supply accurate data
on their prodicts.
New Members
New members are assigned t
houses by the ICC membershil
committee, which, like other ICC
committees, is made up of mem
hers eleeted trom each of the
Members are selected on their
potential value as co-opers and
their individual need, as deter-
mined by the committee.
The ICC social committee is
charged with providing entertain-
ment for the member houses in
the form of parties, pwinics, and
bi-monthly exchange dinners be-
tween the men's and women's
1 houses.
At ICC parties, held twice a se-
mester, the atmosphere is infor-
mal, admission is not charged. nqr
is it restricted to members.
I - - -- - --
SYou Con Lose
Unwanted Pounds and Inches
e just where you want them off;
no diets, drugs, medicines or
o back breaking exercises.
It
a
Harold M. Baskin
o Physio Therapist
p 8 N. Normal -St. Phone 2410
C YPSILANTI
-I
CO-OP APARTMENT-Barrington Hall at Berkeley, Calif., houses
150 women members of the University Students' Cooperative
Association.
50,000 STRONG:
Student Co-op Move ments
Had Origins on'U' Campus
Daily--Lmanian
CURTAIN RAISING-Jerry Byer and Otto MacMorris, two Mich-
igan Cooperative House members, install new curtains.
From its inception on the Mich-,
igan campus in 1932, the student
cooperative movement has spread
throughout the country, and now
includes more than 50,000 mem-
bers..
Representing campus co-ops on
the national level is the newly
formed North American Student
Cooperative League, which last
summer held its second annual
business meeting in Berkeley,
Calif.
Closer to home is the Midwest
Federation of Campus Coopera-
tives, until recently housed at
Michigan.
At NASCL and MFCC confer-
ences, co-opers get a look at other
campuses and other co-op set-
ups.
At the University of Texas,
which celebrated its eleventh an-
niversary last summer, one of its
new houses was built entirely by
co-op members. With the help
Co-op Experience
Proves Valuable
Training in cooperatives here
has been valuable to local co-op
alumni and leaders.
Jean Curtis, Ella Aidel, and Bill
Gamzon, three University co-op
members are engaged in working
with the Mid-West Federation of
Campus Cooperatives, and nation-
al co-op organizations, as a re-
sult of the training that they
received in house-management
and personnel work here.
of a local lumber company, the
house was built at a substantial
saving.
At the MFCC conference in Chi-
cago last month, co-op delegates
were housed in coeducational
houses. There men and women
-Jeep on separate floors, but din-
ing and living rooms are open to
both sexes.
Another Chicago co-op was
named a single family unit re-
cently, when zoning regulations
threatened to make several stu-
dents homeless.
Student co-ops on other cam-
puses have entered fields other
than housing. Co-op restaurants,
bookstores, laundries and other
money-saving enterprises are own-
ed and operated by the students
themselves.
At Antioch College, Ohio, stu-
dents are operating a co-op snack
bar, and many campuses are run-
ning restaurants similar to the
Wolverine, which operated here
before the war.
Co-ops at Berkley, Calif., where
the organization includes mor
than 800 members, not only have
such large modern facilities ac
Barrington Hall, which is pictur-
ed, but also run a catering serv-
ice providing meals not only t
members but to other student or-
ganizations at low cost.
Bookstores on many campuse,
are operated on a consumer co-
operative basis, eliminating pro-
fits and passing the savings on t
students in the form of patron
age refunds.
e
e
s
s
-0
Lester
honor of
who has
for slum
activities
to the
members
House was named in
an English social worker
done much in working
clearance. Although her
were not directly related
cooperative movement,
of the house wished to
l
r
f
honor the spirit with which she
strived to better workers' living
conditions.
Robert Owen House, the largest
men's co-op on campus, was start-
ed in the fall of 1940 by 18 stu-
dents.
The house grew rapidly until
the outbreak of war, when mem-
bers were drafted into the army,
and 1943 found the few remain-
ing Owenites hauling spuds from
their victory garden and working
part time in war plants.
In 1944 the Inter-Co Council
bought a new house for the Owen
men, but it became a women's co-
operative until '46 when the men
returned in sufficient force to
'again take over.
* * *
Stevens Co-op, which accommo-
dates 19 men, was founded in the
fall of 1944, and is named for
Prof. A. K. Stevens, a lecturer for
the University Extension Service.
Prof. Stevens who has believed
in and aided the campus coopera-
tive movement since its inception,
takes pride in the fact that an
"international educational melt-
ing pot" bears his name.
The men in the Stevens House,
as in all other co-ops, are of vari-
ous racial and religious back-
grounds.
** *
Osterweil House, the newest co-
operative on campus, was started
in the spring of 1946.
The house accommodates 17
women and a student housemoth-
er chosen by the members and ap-
proved by the University.
The house is named for Harold
Osterweil, a Michigan student who
was instrumental in establishing
the Inter-Cooperative Council.
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INTER
-COOPERATIVE
Uiiihinq i/ice
COUN CIL
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GREENE'S
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AN UNDER THE MICROSCOPI
' ,rNeOWI
get started
Many fine positions
at good salaries
Since January 1, we have received
many times more calls for office
employees than we have been
able to fill. Trained office work-
ers are scarce. Starting salaries
range from $140 per month.
Train Quickly
You can complete a business
course in from 9 to 18 months.
Courses include secretarial, ac-
counting, bookkeeping, steno-
graphic, office machines and
stenotyping.
New Classes
New Classes will start on Mon-
day, November 17. A limited
number of new students can be
at the University of Michigan continued sue-
cessful operation on the occasion of Campus
Co-ops' 15th Anniversary.
The Michigan Cooperative Houses
* First in the Country - pioneers for over 200,000 College
Students, living cooperatively
* Following the Rochdale Principles of Cooperation:
Open Membership... One Member - One Vote
Neutrality in Religion and Politics
Constant Education. .. Continuous Expansion
it
Ann Arbor Sealtest Dairy
121 Catherine
Liberty Music Shop
205 East Liberty 2-0675
A&P Food Stores
East Huron Street
Symons Bros. & Co.
I I rMPIACA-it" - 9372 A
I I
11
9372
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