Don’t let Daniel Nguyen’s, shoulder-length nest of hair fool you. Or David Barclay’s epic bramble of a beard, cultivated while ‘mdash; literally ‘mdash; out at sea. Or even Andrew Rubens’s waterfall of bangs. Nguyen, a core member of the Food Co-op, wants you to know: ‘We’re not a bunch of dirty hippies.’
While UCSD’s cooperatives are often bundled into one big box of ‘dirty hippie’ stereotype ‘mdash; dreads, granola, Marx and copious amounts of weed ‘mdash; Groundwork Books, the General Store, the Food Co-op and Che Cafe have a lot to offer. They’re student-run, nonhierarchical and nonprofit, doubling as student orgs and businesses.
The Food Co-op sells fresh, natural foods, much of it made in-house. Groundwork shelves a respectable collection of radical and alternative texts you most often won’t find at the UCSD Bookstore, and for a reasonable price. More than just a stock of low-cost goods and snacks (and the only place on campus to buy cigarettes), the General Store also rents DVDs for a couple bucks and has an old-school video-game station. Che Cafe puts on cheap, all-ages shows and makes vegan food that ‘mdash; according to Barclay, a member who isn’t vegan ‘mdash; is actually really
good.
According to Rubens, a G-Store member, the co-ops provide ‘what UCSD as a whole lacks: community.’
But, over the roughly 35 years the co-ops have been in existence, these safe havens have come dangerously close to collapse. In fact, the co-ops’ history is fit for the big screen: There’s action, adventure, unrequited love, class warfare, burglary, theft, riot police, restraining orders, terrorism and, of course, organic produce.
Groundwork was the first cooperative on campus, established in 1974. Charles Senger, a septuagenarian UCSD alumnus, is a current member of the Groundwork Books collective but has been involved with the co-op since its inception. He remembers the years preceding Groundwork’s official establishment, when its founders began selling radical books from a small cart during political demonstrations. Amid growing popularity, Senger said Groundwork Books moved into a ‘closet’ before finally being granted its own space.
The General Store arrived soon after in 1977 (officially established in 1980) when, as written in the G-Store’s blog, a group of students came together ‘to order jeans at a discounted price.’ From these humble beginnings, the co-op eventually garnered support and its own space on campus.
Then came the Food Co-op, in 1978. A picture of its founder, Tim Sankary, is on display in the store above the bagel cutter. According to the portrait and Food Co-op lore, Sankary ‘started selling apples and oranges for 10 cents from a fruit cart in the quad’ in 1974, while attempting to land a date. As legend has it, despite his efforts expertly slinging produce from his bicycle, he didn’t get the girl.
Che Cafe was the last of the co-ops to be established, in 1980. Originally opened as a restaurant for the Food Co-op to sell its fare, it quickly grew into a hybrid cafe and events center.
Barclay ‘mdash; a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography ‘mdash; said the Che is a legend. In fact, he first heard of it while attending high school in Canada. Since its inception, it has spawned similar all-ages, collectively run DIY venues like the Smell in Los Angeles, which openly acknowledges Che Cafe’s influence. According to Barclay, it continues to host ‘legends’ in the independent music scene, and is open to pretty much anyone willing to do the work involved in organizing an event.
‘If you can imagine it,’ Barclay said, ‘it can happen at the Che.’
The co-ops have been central in initiating on-campus social action, leading rallies, sit-ins and demonstrations ‘mdash; including a week-long protest against apartheid in the early ’80s ‘mdash; in addition to fighting for their own existence.
Nearly two decades ago, what the ’92-era Guardian called a ‘war’ broke out between the co-ops and the administration. On November 18, 1991, in a memo heard ’round the campus, University Centers Director Jim Carruthers accused the co-ops of ‘illicit financial activity,’ revoked Groundwork’s student-org status and mandated that the other co-ops hand over their books, accounts and management to the administration.
Groundwork refused, so Carruthers agreed to work with students in addressing concerns of financial mismanagement on the part of the co-ops.
But the ‘war’ was not yet won. At 1:15 a.m. on January 15, 1992, Assistant Vice Chancellor Tommy Tucker and the UCSD Police Department entered the General Store Co-op in an administrative break-in to seize financial records. Finding none, they changed the locks.
Tucker then told the Guardian that administrators feared the documents were being ‘doctored.’ Though General Store members cried foul ‘mdash; citing their contract with the administration, which required a 24-hour notice prior to administrative entry ‘mdash; Tucker claimed the action was legal.
‘This is a university building,’ he told the Guardian. ‘It’s our operation and we can do what we want to do with it.’
At 4 a.m. the same morning, General Store members ‘mdash; some of whom slept in the co-op overnight ‘mdash; changed the locks that Tucker had installed. Six hours later, at 10 a.m., Tucker returned with police officers and searched once again for financial records, leaving police to guard the store. By 2 p.m., however, in rebellion worthy of the era from which the co-ops were born, hundreds of students forced the officers out of the building and took back control of the General Store. A sit-in lasting several days followed, in which Senger himself was a participant.
The following day, a Superior Court judge granted the co-ops a restraining order against the administration. He then ordered the General Store to submit its financial documents to the UCSD Internal Audit office. Both sides hailed the ruling a victory.
A year and a half of costly negotiations followed. In 1993, a contentious Memorandum of Understanding was born, which governed relations between the co-ops, the administration, the Associated Students Council and the Graduate Student Association. It was finalized two years later.
The second major run-in between the co-ops and the administration concerned the Burn! Project, which Groundwork books managed in 2000, before Che Cafe took over in 2002.
Originally established in 1993 by the communication department, the Burn! Project was an experiment in primary source media. Its Web site compiled, published and linked to content generated by various radical social movements, including the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ej’eacute;rcito del Pueblo and the Kurdistan Workers Party, both considered ‘designated foreign terrorist organizations’ by the U.S. State Department.
Not surprisingly, the university received a barrage of complaints during the years of the project’s existence. However, UCSD remained committed to its students’ First Amendment rights, and webmaster Michael Breen told the San Francisco Chronicle in a May 9, 1997, article that the university ‘tries very, very hard to err on the side of freedom of speech.’
Dan Hallin, current chair of the communication department, told Time-Warner for a July 21, 1997, article: ‘We’re proud that our students are part of that communications network. We don’t see any reason to get rid of it because it’s controversial.’
After Groundwork Books took over Burn!, it was protected by the co-ops’ status as student organizations, but they proved to be no match against the Bush Administration’s favorite weapon: the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. In back-and-forth correspondence from April to October 2002, the administration accused the co-ops of violating UCSD policies and federal law by ‘providing material support’ to ‘designated foreign terrorist organizations.’
The co-ops fired back with the First Amendment, but after months of legal analysis and disputes, the project was finally shut down. Today, try going to the Burn! Web site and all that appears is ‘ERROR’ ‘mdash; stark, bold, capitalized letters spelling out censorship in all its patriotic glory.
The third major clash between the co-ops and administrators concerned the lapse of their Master Space Agreement ‘mdash; a document resembling a landlord-tenant contract ‘mdash; in 2000. The A. S. Council and the Graduate Student Association granted two two-year rental extensions; a third extension was in the works as early as Fall Quarter 2003.
In minutes from a November 7, 2003, Co-op Advisory Committee meeting, then-Vice President of the Graduate Student Association Lee Lovejoy stated that ‘renewal is not an issue, and there shouldn’t be any doubts about the co-ops’ existence.’ However, according to the Co-op Oversight Committee’s April 23, 2004, meeting minutes, when the third extension was officially proposed in spring 2004, administrators stated it would not be allowed because the MOU, which established the MSA, had expired.
Negotiations worsened when, in a letter dated August 17, 2004, the administration stated the tenancy of the co-ops would be terminated if an agreement was not reached by October 15, 2004. This was later extended one m
onth, to November 15.
The co-ops saw this as an eviction notice. According to a statement made by one of their attorneys, Lottie Cohen, in a San Diego Union-Tribune article, it was just another attempt by the university to get rid of the co-ops once and for all. However, in a campus notice dated October 15, 2004, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson claimed that negotiations would ‘not affect the viability of the co-ops.’
‘We are committed to preserving and supporting [the] role [of the co-ops],’ Watson wrote in notice.
After further negotiations, a completely new document was drafted: a ‘space agreement’ between the co-ops and the UC Board of Regents, replacing the MOU and MSA. It’s stated that the A. S. Council and the Graduate Student Association were to maintain oversight and dispute resolution roles, but were no longer ‘landlords’ to the co-op ‘tenants.’ Instead, the co-ops would pay rent directly to the university.
During these negotiations, the co-ops were under month-to-month tenancy. According to Nguyen, they stopped paying rent because they were under no formal contract with the university. When the new space agreement was finalized in June 2006, the co-ops were billed $35,408.37 in back rent.
Earlier this quarter, on April 15, the co-ops won a small victory when the A. S. Council voted unanimously to absorb this debt ‘mdash; substantial amounts of which the co-ops had already paid off.
Most recently, some members of the co-ops felt that the construction caused by expanding the Student Center and Price Center from 2006 to 2008 obstructed their operations.
During construction, the Food Co-op was severely limited in its functionality, the General Store suffered a 40 percent drop in sales and Groundwork had to move three times. Furthermore, as a result of relocating the university’s ‘downtown’ to Price Center, the Student Center has been somewhat decentralized as a hub of student activity and recreation, according to Rubens.
He attributed these negative effects to a concerted effort by the administration to finally drive the co-ops out of business.
However, according to current University Centers Director Paul Terzino, the success of the co-ops is important to the administration.
‘The investment that has gone into the expansion and renovations for the Student Center speaks volumes of the [university’s] ongoing commitment,’ Terzino said in an e-mail. ‘The administration has spent countless hours working with the co-ops to find workable solutions to the many challenges that have surfaced over the years.’
These recent ‘challenges’ include the effects of construction on the Food Co-op, the Food Co-op’s failed Price Center satellite and Che Cafe’s three-month closure this year as a result of losing of insurance.
Due to the Food Co-op’s limited operations during construction, the university granted a 50 percent rent reduction. However, although the General Store experienced a drop in sales, it did not receive a rent reduction because it remained fully operational.
Terzino added that the university invested over $50,000 in the Food Co-op’s satellite venture in Price Center. The satellite location was first proposed in 2005, and was even included in the newly negotiated space agreement finalized in 2006. After a year of business, however, it closed down in 2007 ‘mdash; according to both Terzino and the Food Co-op ‘mdash; due to operational challenges.
The Che Cafe had to close down from January to March of this year, when its insurance company terminated coverage upon missed payment. According to Barclay, the university was understanding of the Che’s situation, and even granted the cafe an extended grace period to secure new coverage.
The Cafe continues to be successful, however, due to a devoted following of students and community members, Barklay said. Rubens, though, is unsure about the future of the co-ops.
‘The co-ops will always be here,’ Rubens said. ‘We have one thing that’s always valuable and that’s student support. [But] I wouldn’t be surprised if in five years [the General Store] is a Chipotle and [Groundwork] is a Starbucks.’
According to Nguyen, the Food Co-op’s sales before the University Centers expansion ‘mdash; and this current economic climate ‘mdash; were three times what they are now. Members have had to suspend payroll, and work on a volunteer basis. According to Senger, the same is true of Groundwork.
Terzino said the university’s plans for future expansion will serve to bolster foot traffic to the Student Center.
‘The plans that the campus has for additional projects will bring more students and overall population to [the Student Center and co-ops], which can only enhance the potential customer base for all the merchants in this area,’ Terzino said in an e-mail. ‘The University Centers will continue to plan programs and events at the Student Center and work with the co-ops to address facilities-related issues and concerns.’
In the meantime, the co-ops are exploring other ways to expand services and gain support from students. The General Store has a new textbook rental program, and Groundwork is entertaining a proposal by a literature professor to start an online intellectual journal.
‘There’s an old French saying,’ Senger said. ‘La lutte continue ‘mdash; the struggle continues.’
Readers can contact Aprille Muscara at [email protected].