Inspired by the kibbutz movement in Israel and a desire to live truthfully, a group of Washington University students is working to start the Wash. U. Cooperative-an off-campus housing option that will foster such ideals as community, healthy living and social responsibility.
Junior Alexandra Templer began organizing the cooperative last March with the support of Religious Studies Professor Jerome Bauer and Satadru Sen, a professor of history.
“I was dissatisfied with the dichotomy I saw between my rigorous academic life and my purely recreational social time,” said Templer. “I wanted to learn not only from my professors and books, but from real people-people my own age with similar experiences. [Forming a] cooperative also seemed like a way to actualize-socially, politically, and economically-what I learned in my classes, particularly sustainability and responsibility.”
As it was late in the semester when Templer began to share these ideas, many students had already settled on housing plans. A small group of students, however, decided to experiment informally with this lifestyle, and with Dr. Bauer’s assistance, Templer coordinated an independent study this year to explore the models and ideology of sustainable cooperative living.
“Once I heard about it in the beginning of [last] semester, I asked to join,” said sophomore Chloe Byruck of the independent course. “We met once a week with Professor Bauer to discuss various books [and] started reading about the kibbutz movement in Israel, [which inspired] us to try to officially start a school co-op.”
Templer explained that the models provided a framework, but that the spirit of the movement drove the students.
“[While] the available models give us an outline for how to do this, the inspiration was just living and wanting a little more than what we have,” said Templer.
By definition, a kibbutz is a collective society of members who share the aims of equality, self-labor and shared responsibilities of production and consumption. Kibbutzim first began to appear almost a century ago in what is now Israel, when small groups of Jewish immigrants set up close-knit egalitarian communities. While these original settlements had small memberships and were thought of as enlarged families, today most have several hundred members.
This is very similar to the setup of a cooperative-an organization run jointly by its members and whose profits are shared among them. Cooperatives are as varied as the people within them, and can focus on anything from food to business to living arrangements.
According to its constitution, the Wash. U. Cooperative is a “student-run, not-for-profit organization that seeks to foster community, healthy living, environmental sustainability and social responsibility.” Like a kibbutz, it is governed by “egalitarian democratic procedures.”
The organization has been in its preliminary planning stages for several months.
“Our first steps have been to set up a meeting with the administration to present our ideas, examine potential housing options, apply for student group status, look into setting up a community garden and contact the North American Student Cooperative Organization (NASCO) for support,” said sophomore Duncan Ward.
The Campus Cooperative Development Corporation, overseen by NASCO, is the organization that provides financial and developmental services across the nation to groups who wish to start cooperative student housing on college campuses.
Sophomore Dwyer Kilcollin, a member of the co-op, emphasized the ties that the organization will foster between the students and the local community.
“We hope to set up a cooperative community of students interested in becoming more integrated into the St. Louis community through our pursuit to become educated consumers, environmentally conscious and self-actualized in our role in this community,” said Kilcollin.
In formatting their organization, the students have visited a local cooperative as well as looked at models of cooperatives at other universities and development manuals. While the location of the cooperative is currently an issue, Templer explained that Wash. U. Cooperative hopes to provide housing open to all students next fall, either as a part of Residential Life (off-campus housing similar to Parkview) or as an autonomous corporation.
“We hope to maintain a strong connection to the University because so much of what we hope to accomplish is in line with ResLife’s goals of community, diversity and education,” she said.
Ward added that while he originally joined the group because of the personalities involved, its atmosphere also provides a potential for personal growth.
“As the meetings have gone on, I have become increasingly excited by what this could become,” he said. “I believe growth and maturity have a lot to do with the people around you. This cooperative will serve to help me grow as a conscious individual while I help others to do the same.”