Editorial: Add a new co-op

As was reported earlier this week in the ‘Prince,’ the long waitlists for the three current food co-ops recently led two members of the Class of 2013 to petition for the creation of a fourth co-op that might house students currently unable to participate in one during their upperclass years. Unfortunately, the University refused to grant the students’ request, citing various logistical issues that might arise in assembling the resources to create a new co-op. While we acknowledge that the creation of a co-op requires clearing many hurdles, we believe rising demand and the unique benefits offered by co-ops require that the University prioritize the creation of an additional co-op. There may be some difficulties involved in adding a fourth co-op, but the University ought to make a serious effort to surmount them.

Co-ops offer benefits that are unmatched by other aspects of the University community. They offer students a middle ground between eating club and residential college meal plans, and going independent. Co-ops can offer the social community, events and the common amenities of an eating club for students who simply prefer to avoid the social atmosphere of the Street. Such an option is especially advantageous for students with financial issues, or anybody else who prefers not to pay the high price for a college or club meal plan. The fact that all of the co-ops currently in existence are full, with long wait-lists, clearly indicates that there is a substantial and unmet demand for the co-op experience. This situation is particularly unfortunate given the University’s current laudable focus on providing alternatives to the eating clubs. Expanding the number of co-ops on campus would provide more options for those uninterested in the eating clubs but still in search of an upperclass social community.

The University has certainly identified legitimate logistical concerns with the proposal. There is limited kitchen space across campus; restricting the use of any of this scarce space to specific portions of the student body is clearly not ideal. Construction of more kitchens would be expensive and is obviously not feasible in the short-term. However, we would encourage the University to consider the need for more kitchen space for co-ops in its renovation plans. In the meantime, we are confident that the University can devise a plan under which more co-op space would be created for interested students while interfering minimally with others’ use of campus kitchen space, such as the use of the Campus Club kitchen.

Given the undeniable benefits and current shortage of co-ops, we encourage the administration to do as much as possible to increase the supply. It seems that interested students have made a good-faith effort to compromise, and we hope that the University will reconsider and respond in kind.