As both an employee and resident in the ICC, Clark highlighted the definition of cooperation in co-ops. When you move in, you become a member. It's an investment of both resources and ideology from each member. Being run by members is exactly what distinguishes the cooperative system from any other student housing, Clark continued. It's run democratically.
All members are, in fact, voting members, who have a say in decision-making for their houses.
On an evening last week, as the first snow of the year covered Ann Arbor, those statements were tested. In every neighborhood around campus, students walked, heads bowed to the wind and snowflakes, from their studies or jobs to their homes. As six o'clock approaches, members converged on Black Elk Co-op, the porch resonating with stomping feet knocking the heavy snow from their soles. Coats were thrown onto the couches and benches lining the dining room. Casey, an LSA transfer student from Schoolcraft Community College, emerged from the kitchen, his dinner plate heaping with black beans, rice, taco salad and non-dairy sour cream.