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| Company type | Housing cooperative |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1934 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Members | Mature Students & Community Members |
| Website | Inter-Cooperative Council |
The Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan (ICC) is a student owned and operated housing cooperative serving students and community members in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The ICC is an active member of NASCO.
In response to the harsh economic times imposed by the Great Depression, members of the Socialist Club at the University of Michigan founded the Michigan Socialist House, located at 335 East Ann Street, in 1932. In return for four to five hours of work and two dollars each week, each of the 18 founding members received room, board, barber, canning, and laundry service. The success of the Michigan Socialist House fueled other cooperative endeavors by the Socialist Club, the most notable being the Michigan Cooperative Boarding House, later to be renamed the Michigan Wolverine Eating Co-op. The Michigan Wolverine Eating Co-op would later play a vital role in the expansion of the cooperative movement on campus. By serving as a common ground for members of the Socialist Club and the Student Christian Association, which owned the building at the time, the Wolverine Eating Co-op introduced the idea of housing cooperatives to many within the religious community.
The second wave of student cooperative houses was formally initiated in 1934 through the efforts of the Reverend and Mrs. H. L. Pickerill. The Pickerills welcomed students to live in their house in exchange for performing household chores. By 1936 there were a total of eight students living in the Pickerills' attic who, with the help of a $700 loan from the Reverend, rented a house on Thompson Street naming it the Student Cooperative House and, later, Rochdale House. Because the women who often visited the Rochdale Co-op were in a similar economic position to their male counterparts and the university did not allow for males and females to cohabitate, they began to look for a house of their own. A house at 517 East Ann Street was rented and ran smoothly as the Girls' Cooperative House until 1939 when it was forced to move to 1511 Washtenaw Street, adopting the new name, the Alice Freeman Palmer House, named after prominent women's educational rights activist Alice Freeman Palmer.
In 1937, adhering to the Rochdale Principles of cooperation among cooperatives and continuing education, the four existing student cooperatives, the Michigan Socialist House, the Michigan Wolverine Eating Co-op, the Rochdale cooperative House and the yet to be renamed Girls' Cooperative House joined to form the Campus Cooperative Council. This organization later became known as the Inter-Cooperative Council and, in 1939, submitted a draft of its first constitution to be adopted and ratified by each of the cooperatives on campus. The increased economy, efficiency, and publicity gained through the establishment of the Inter-Cooperative Council facilitated the establishment of many more student cooperatives on Campus. This expansion reached its peak prior to the outbreak of World War II when the ICC consisted of 12 independent rooming and boarding houses. All of the organization's houses were rented until 1943 when Stevens House was purchased, named after Albert K. Stevens, an early supporter of the ICC.
The ICC hired its first paid executive director, Luther H. Buchele, in 1951, although some students felt having paid leadership was at odds with cooperative values. [1] Under his leadership, the Inter-Cooperative Council began a steady period of expansion from 1953 to 1978, during which several more houses were purchased and the North Campus Co-ops were constructed.
In accordance with the second Rochdale principle, democratic member control, ultimate authority in the organization lies with the Board of Directors. The ICC Board meets on Mondays, typically twice a month.
The Board of Directors includes voting representatives from each house (one per house with the exceptions: 3 from Escher, 2 from MichMinnies [2] ), the chairpersons of standing committees (non-voting), and the General Manager (non-voting).
Each board member must serve on one of the following committees chaired by Vice Presidents (VPs). The committees are:
The VPs of each committee, the ICC president, and the General Manager sit on another committee that helps to coordinate the efforts of all the other committees and the board of directors. This committee is known as the Coordinating Committee (CoCo).
The ICC currently owns 19 houses and 1 office around the Central and North Campuses of the University of Michigan. The houses are primarily named after past co-opers and are often known locally by the honoree's last name (e.g. Karl D. Gregory House goes by simply 'Gregory').
Ella Baker Graduate Co-operative, known previously under several names including the James R. Jones House, Joint House, and Tri-House (in conjunction with A.K. Stevens) was originally opened as two separate houses; Mark VIII, purchased in 1961, and Pickerell, purchased in 1965. The two houses were connected via the addition of a large central room and functioned as a single co-op. After being remodeled in 2007, the co-op adopted its current name and offered housing tailored for graduate students instead of operating primarily for undergraduates. It is located at 917-923 S. Forest Ave.
Black Elk Cooperative House was founded in 1986, and is located at 902 Baldwin Avenue. Black Elk is a vegetarian house and does not allow meat on the property in any form. [4]
Eugene V. Debs Cooperative House was founded in 1967, and is located at 909 E. University Avenue. Debs Cooperative houses 23 residents, and members cook vegetarian and vegan meals.
Karl D. Gregory Cooperative House at 1617 Washtenaw was originally built in 1909 for the Tau Gamma Nu fraternity and was purchased by the ICC in 1995. Gregory House is the only house in the organization that is expressly substance free. No tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drugs are allowed on the property. As of June 2008, Gregory House has a maximum capacity of 29 members (by way of 13 single and 8 double capacity rooms). Karl D. Gregory is an alumnus of Nakamura House. Gregory has been a long time activist of civil and human rights. After being successful under appointments by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter, and Reagan, he generously donated $20,000 to the ICC. This was used to acquire the Karl D. Gregory Cooperative House, named in his honor.
Coretta Scott King Cooperative House is located at 803 East Kingsley Street. Compared to other ICC co-ops, King functions closer to an apartment complex with six separate units, having less common shared space.
Muriel Lester Cooperative House was founded in 1940 as an all-women's cooperative house; in 2021, the previous members of Lester Cooperative House and the Inter-Cooperative Council Board of Directors worked to re-theme the cooperative to "Sylvia Rivera Cooperative House". [5] It was renamed again to the Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera Cooperative House. The theme of Johnson-Rivera is to be a safe space that centers the needs and experiences of Queer Trans People of Color (QTPOC). [4] Today it is located at 900 Oakland Street and is, like all ICC co-ops, inclusive of all genders. It houses 15 residents. Although the theme of Rivera Co-op is to be a safe space for QTPOC, due to fair housing laws, [6] anyone is allowed to live at Rivera Co-op; it is not solely limited to QTPOC.
The November 27, 1943 Thanksgiving issue of the Saturday Evening Post featured Lester Cooperative House in an article about student cooperative movements in America. [7]
Benjamin Linder Cooperative House houses 15 people during the spring/summer terms, and 20 people during the school year. It is located at 711 Catherine St. and is known for its dinners. There is always a vegetarian option.
Luther Buchele Cooperative House, known as 'Luther House' or 'Luther Cooperative', is made up of two houses located at 1510 and 1520 Hill Street. The buildings were purchased by the Inter-Cooperative Council in 1986; prior to that the buildings were home to John Sinclair, the MC5 and the White Panther Party. [8] Located behind the two residential houses is the ICC's Moses Coady-Paulo Friere Cooperative Education Center, at which various educational and board meetings are held. Luther Cooperative is one of the larger cooperatives in the ICC, capable of housing up to 50 members split between the two homes. Luther House is known for its annual Halloween party, 'Lutherween'.
Michigan Cooperative House is the oldest cooperative house in the ICC, founded in 1932 as the Michigan Socialist House. It is located at 315 N. State Street.
Minnie's Cooperative House was founded in 1970, and is located at 307 N. State Street. It neighbors Michigan Cooperative House, and as such the two share meals and many aspects of their culture.
John Nakamura Cooperative is named after John Nakamura, a previous ICC member who served in World War 2. The Cooperative was named after Nakamura due to his service to a country that was actively discriminating against him. Nakamura Cooperative is known for their biweekly open mic nights. [4]
Harold Osterweil Cooperative House is a student housing cooperative located on East Jefferson Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Osterweil is the third oldest co-operative and is one of the smallest in the Inter-Cooperative Council. The cooperative is named after Economics professor Harold Osterweil. [9] Its first residents were men during the summer of 1946, but in the fall of 1946 Osterweil became a women's house and in 1970 became co-ed. By the time of its purchase, all new student housing had to be approved by the university because students were legally considered minors at that time. Because the ICC moved so fast in its expansion, the university was not asked for approval until after the house was already purchased. The first house that the university granted approval for retroactively is most likely Osterweil.[ citation needed ]
Robert Owen Cooperative House, which deems their theme as "theme-less" was founded in 1938 and moved to the current location of 1017 Oakland Ave in 1944. [10]
Ruths' was purchased by the ICC in 1993 and is located at 321 N. Thayer. [11] Ruths' has a theme of "cozy/granny" and has a maximum occupancy of 12 residents.
Sojourner Truth Cooperative House holds 52 members and is themed as a house welcoming international students. [12] The house was originally named after comedian Lenny Bruce before adopting its current name in the 1980s.
Stefan T. Vail Cooperative House is located at 602 Lawrence Street, and was founded in 1960. The house proper was constructed in 1848, [13] and is a recognized as a historic building by the city of Ann Arbor. Vail Cooperative houses 23 residents and cooks vegetarian and vegan meals while maintaining a theme of sustainability.
Which was previously two houses:
The ICC's main office, the Rochdale Center, is located at 377 E. William Street.
Several ICC houses have closed, sold, or been lost to fire since the creation of the Inter-Cooperative Council, including:
Ann Arbor is a college town and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County and had 372,258 residents in 2020. Ann Arbor is also included in the Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor combined statistical area and the Great Lakes megalopolis.
ICC most commonly refers to:
The North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) is a federation of housing cooperatives in Canada and the United States, started in 1968. Traditionally, NASCO has been associated with student housing cooperatives, though non-student cooperatives are included in its network. NASCO provides its member cooperatives with operational assistance, encourages the development of new cooperatives, and serves as an advocate for cooperatives to government, universities, and communities. NASCO teaches leadership skills, provides information, and serves as a central link in facilitating the fruition of the cooperative vision for students and youth.
The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The BSC houses and/or feeds over 1,300 students in 17 houses and three apartment buildings. Food is provided to residents of the 17 houses, which also offer boarding meal plans to non-residents. As part of their rental agreement, residents of the houses are required to perform workshifts, typically five hours per week. The BSC is led by a board of directors which is primarily composed of and elected by student members.
The Human Rights Party (HRP) was a left-wing political party that existed in Michigan from 1970 to 1977. The party achieved electoral success in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. It eventually expanded to include several other Michigan cities with large student populations. In 1975, the HRP became the Socialist Human Rights Party (SHRP), and it later merged with the Socialist Party of Michigan.
The Stefan T. Vail Cooperative House is a housing cooperative for college students at the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, and Eastern Michigan University located at 602 Lawrence Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A member of the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) in Ann Arbor, Vail house is named after Stefan Valavanis, a former ICC President who became a notable economist. It is one of only two known adobe buildings in Ann Arbor.
Michigan Cooperative House was founded in 1932 as Michigan Socialist House. It was located at 335 E. Ann Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, near the University of Michigan campus, and now is located at 315 N. State Street. It is one of the co-op houses making up the Inter-Cooperative Council. In 2016 Michigan Cooperative House and the neighboring Minnies Cooperative House voted to combine the two coops and become one functioning, democratically run cooperative.
Cooperative Village is a community of housing cooperatives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The cooperatives are centered on Grand Street in an area south of the entrance ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge and west of the FDR Drive. Combined, the four cooperatives have 4,500 apartments in twelve buildings.
A student housing cooperative, also known as co-operative housing, is a housing cooperative for student members. Members live in alternative cooperative housing that they personally own and maintain. These houses are designed to lower housing costs while providing an educational and community environment for students to live and grow in. They are, in general, nonprofit, communal, and self-governing, with students pooling their monetary and personal resources to create a community style home. Many student housing cooperatives share operation and governing of the house. As with most cooperatives, student housing coops follow the Rochdale Principles and promote collaboration and community work done by the members for mutual benefit.
Spartan Housing Cooperative (SHC) is a nonprofit member owned and operated housing cooperative. The SHC was formed as in 1969, as a federation of existing student housing cooperatives in East Lansing. Since the first of the SHC's member houses formed 69 years ago, SHC has accumulated more than 4,000 members.
Escher Cooperative House, named after artist M. C. Escher, is one of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan's (ICC) 16 student housing cooperatives. It is located at 1500 to 1520 Gilbert Court in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The only North Campus-located cooperative, it is the ICC's largest community with over 150 spaces of residents and 9 separately themed "suites." It is also the only building in Ann Arbor built specifically for cooperative housing.
The University of Texas Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) is a student owned and operated housing cooperative serving students and community members in Austin, Texas. ICC Austin is an active member of NASCO.
The Oberlin Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1962 that feeds and houses Oberlin College students. Located in the town of Oberlin, Ohio, it is independent from but closely tied to Oberlin College. OSCA is one of the largest student housing cooperatives in North America.
New Community is a student housing cooperative located in East Lansing, Michigan and a member house of the Michigan State University Student Housing Cooperative. After having been founded as an independent cooperative in the 1960s, New Community has undergone a series of changes and remains a staple of progressive living in the region.
Albert K. Stevens was a scholar, professor, and early supporter of the student cooperative housing movement in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the 1930s.
York Center is an unincorporated community in York Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. York Center is located by Meyers Road and 16th Street, near the southern border of Lombard, and the western border of Oakbrook Terrace. York Center has an elementary school, established in 1958, and a fire protection district, which covers unincorporated areas of Lombard, Villa Park, Oak Brook, and Oakbrook Terrace.
Christopher Taylor is an American attorney and politician who has served as the mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2014.
The Eugene V. Debs Cooperative House is a student housing cooperative founded in 1967, one of the 18 cooperative houses which make up the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan. Debs Cooperative is located at 909 East University Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is named for Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs. Debs has a reputation for being politically active, socially conscious, and environmentally focused. House funds go towards maintenance and the purchase of organic food, and members of the house cook vegetarian and vegan meals five nights a week.
The University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor's economy significantly. It employs about 30,000 workers, including about 12,000 in the medical center. Other employers are drawn to the area by the university's research and development money, and by its graduates. High tech, health services and biotechnology are other major components of the city's economy; numerous medical offices, laboratories, and associated companies are located in the city. Automobile manufacturers, such as General Motors and Visteon, also employ residents.
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