OwnersManual

From Lechateau

Smooth Sailing Through Chateau Your Co-op Owner’s Manual

Part I: Stuff every brand new member needs to know

Welcome

Welcome to Chateau, the coolest place to live in Berkeley. Chateau, like all 17 houses in the USCA, is a housing cooperative, which means that we¾all of us who live here¾control and run the place ourselves. We make the rules and we do the work. The people at the co-op central office are our employees, not our landlords.

Your energy and effort are what makes Chateau a great place to live. As long-time Chateauvian Scott Longwell always, always said:

“You own it, you run it, and you fix it if it breaks.”

Moving in

Keys. The person who moves you into Chateau will give you a key to the house and a key to your room, which fits into the doorhandle and the deadbolt.

House tour. The picture on page XX shows the layout of Chateau. On your first day here, ask any old member of the house for a complete house tour.

Your temp room. Your first room at Chateau is a temporary room, which you will live in by yourself or with a roommate. Your temp room should have a bedframe, mattress, desk, chair, and dresser for each person. Tell the house manager if anything is missing.

Room bids. After one or two weeks, the house manager will give a tour of all available rooms and then lead room bids, where you will choose the permanent room you want to live in. Since new members usually wind up in doubles, it’s a good idea to find a compatible roommate before room bids, or else the house manager will stick you with someone.

Your permanent room. When you move into your permanent room, tell the house manager if any furniture is missing, and tell the maintenance manager about any damage or if you want to paint the walls or build a loft. Decorate the walls as you wish, but be considerate; many future Chateauvians will be living with any permanent changes you make. You will be charged for any damage you or your guests do to your room.

Phones. The phone in your temp room shouldn’t be connected. During this time, you can either use the pay phone in the Main House lobby or ask people with connected phones to use theirs. Once you are assigned a permanent room, you can get phone service from Pacific Bell. The house manager will explain the details.

Parking. Park your car in the dirt lot behind North House. Early in the semester, the house manager will post a list to sign up for a permanent parking space. Parking costs $100 per semester. If you don’t intend to pay for a permanent space, don’t park in the lot. Never park in the middle of the lot or in the driveway by the dumpster in front of South House. If you park in the street, read the signs carefully so you don’t get a ticket.

Orientation. During the first one or two weeks, old members will lead an orientation meeting for new members, where you can meet your housemates and get your questions answered. Most semesters, orientation is followed within a few days by a big party called disorientation, which will welcome you to the house on a more carnal level.

Guests. Have your friends over whenever, just be there with them. Tell the house manager if you’re having a guest for a few nights. For guest stays over a week, you need approval of house council, including a work and meal payment plan. Overnight guests need to sleep in your room.

Feeding your friends. You can feed your friends Chateau food or invite them to dinner several times a month for free. Beyond that, it’s not really fair to your housemates and you should discuss paying for extra meals with the kitchen managers.

Trash & recycling. Throw your room trash in the dumpster outside South House. Recycling areas are shown on the kitchen map on page ??. Compost buckets are in the kitchens.

Pets. No furry pets, please, unless you want to give your housemates fleas and allergy problems.

Where to smoke. As a courtesy to your non-smoking housemates, please smoke only in the Main House common room that faces South House (except during dinner) and in your own room, assuming your roommate consents.

Graffiti. Please confine graffiti to the second and third floors of Main House. Walls only. And try to make it interesting, OK?

Laundry. Washers and dryers are in the Main House basement for 25 cents each.

Fire safety. Learn the location of fire exits, extinguishers, and hoses, and ask the maintenance manager if you don’t know how to use them. Don’t set off a fire extinguisher for fun because you will spread toxic chemicals into your housemates’ lungs and everyone will hate you.

Earthquake safety. Don’t put your bed or desk right under a big window or anything heavy that can fall. During a quake, get under your bed or desk and hold onto it. Never run outside during a quake.

First aid. A first aid kit and ice machine are located in the Main House kitchen. Learn who in the house knows first aid.

Security. We live in a high crime area, so keep outside doors shut and lock your deadbolt when no one is in your room. The only people who should be inside Chateau are Chateauvians and people visiting Chateauvians. If someone knocks at the door, let them in after they name the Chateauvian they are visiting. If you have any doubts, you can escort the person to their alleged friend’s room. They can also phone their friend from the Main House porch.

The kitchen

The kitchens in all three houses are yours to use any time of the day. The Main House kitchen is also used to cook house meals and store house food during fall and spring. House food is yours to cook and eat¾you paid for it.

Main House kitchen. In Main House, cooking and eating utensils are stored in the potwash room next to the kitchen. Food is kept in the walk-in refrigerator, the freezer, and the pantry. The sinks in the kitchen are for food preparation; don’t leave cooking or eating implements in them.

Cleaning. It’s up to us to keep our kitchens clean¾no mom, no dining hall staff. Some of us will have kitchen cleaning workshifts, but it’s up to all of us to clean up our own messes. Put away any food you take out, clean your cooking area with a sponge, throw out trash, and put vegetable scraps into a compost bucket. Pots, pans, plates, bowls, silverware¾anything you get dirty¾wash yourself. In South and North Houses, wash items with soap and water and set to dry. In Main House, wash dirty items in the potwash room, then set on one of the sanitizer racks. If a rack is full, run it through the sanitizer (instructions are on the side of the machine) and then leave a new sanitizer rack next to the sink. The sanitizer does not wash dishes, but sterilizes dishes that have already been washed by hand.

The garbage disposal. The round sink near the sanitizer has a garbage disposal, operated by the switch to the right on the wall. Never leave anything, especially silverware, sitting in this sink!

Cooking meat. Prepare raw meat on a wood cutting surface, not on a plastic cutting board. When done, make a solution of one part bleach to eight parts warm water; spread over the wood surface and let soak in for five minutes.

House meals. Dinners are cooked by Chateau members every night during fall and spring. There may also be late night snacks, Saturday and Sunday brunches, and lunch food prepared. Cooks should accommodate omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans (who eat no meat, dairy, or egg products). Cooks should ask the kitchen managers if they don’t know how to do this. Anyone with special food needs should consult the kitchen managers.

Supplies. Brooms, dustpans, and mops are kept in the potwash room. Other cleaning supplies are kept in the potwash, the kitchens, and througout all three houses (you may need to search). Let the kitchen managers know if any food or supplies need to be ordered. There may be a list in the kitchen or pantry to write requests on.

Workshifts

Chateau works because we do. Co-ops save us money because we put in the labor to make things run. If we don’t cook, there won’t be meals; if we don’t clean, everything will be dirty; if we don’t do maintenance, nothing will get fixed. The workshift manager will explain the workshift system at the start of the semester. If you have any uncertainties about your workshift duties, ask the workshift manager soon!

Your weekly obligation. The workshift manager will let you know how many hours of work you need to do each week. Usually it’s five-and-a-half hours per week in fall and spring, and two or three hours per week in summer. You need to start working your first week at Chateau!

Temporary shifts. During the first few weeks, there are temporary shifts. The workshift manager will post a list of jobs to get done, and it is your responsibility to sign up for jobs and do them at the required time.

Permanent shifts. During the first one or two weeks, the workshift manager will give you a workshift preference form, where you specify which jobs you prefer and when you can work. The workshift manager will then assign you a permanent shift, which you will keep the whole semester. Instructions for various jobs should be posted in the Main House lobby or distributed by the workshift manager.

Getting credit for your work. After you do a shift, sign your initials on the workshift sheet so the workshift manager knows you did it. Otherwise, the workshift manager will assume you didn’t do your shift.

If you can’t do your shift. If you won’t be able to do your chosen job some day, sign out of it on the sign-out sheet (posted in the Main House lobby) at least 24 hours in advance so someone else can do it for you. It’s best to find your own replacement.

The hours system. The workshift manager keeps a running tally of the hours you work in a semester. If you do more than your required share in a week, you will be “up hours.” That’s good. If you sign out of a shift, you will go “down hours” and will need to make up those hours at some other time with some other task (such as a shift that someone else signed out of). If you go down a lot of hours you will be monetarily fined and may even get kicked out of the house.

Flaking. One of the worst thing you can do is not sign out of a shift and then not do it or find a replacement for yourself. “Flaking” on a shift lets down the whole house and earns you a “double fine”: if you flake on a three-hour shift, you go down six hours!

House improvement hours. In addition to your weekly workshift obligation, you need to do two “house improvement” hours sometime during the semester. These are projects that make a long-lasting addition to the house, such as painting or re-tiling. The workshift and maintenance managers will coordinate these projects. You don’t have to worry about it at the start of the semester.

Social life

Chateau probably looks different from any place you’ve ever been. Sometimes new members get intimidated by this and ball themselves up in their rooms for a month. But when they finally spend some time with other people, they realize what great people Chateauvians are and grow to love the place. Chateau is a community. People are always around to socialize with you and support you. So get to know your housemates. We’re a friendly and accepting bunch.

When you look back on your college years someday, you probably won’t remember Sociology 101 or any football game scores. But you’ll probably remember your days at Chateau.

So hang out with us!

Welcome!

• • • • Chateau trivia: Chateau’s symbols are the mushroom and the fu-dog. A fu-dog is one of those stone gargoyles outside Main House.****

Part II: Stuff the average Chateavian should learn at some point

Who runs Chateau? The big picture.

Chateau is controlled by us, the members. We are all in charge, democratically, though we often delegate day-to-day decision making to specific groups or individuals.

Council. Most decisions for Chateau are made at weekly or biweekly council meetings, which all members are encouraged to attend. At council, each member has an equal chance to speak and influence decisions.

Managers. Day-to-day decisions are generally made by student managers¾the house manager, workshift manager, maintenance manager, and two kitchen managers¾who are elected by Chateauvians at the end of each semester and receive a reduction in room & board fees in return for their extra work. The managers are accountable to the members for their work.

House-wide ballot votes. Occasional big decisions are made by the members through a ballot vote. Ballot votes are also used to elect and recall the student managers.

House Policy and By-laws. The House Policy is a set of rules made by Chateauvians at council during previous semesters. All new members should get a copy. The By-laws is the house constitution, which explains in detail how decisions get made, managers get elected, members can be kicked out, and the like. The By-laws can only be altered by a ballot vote. If you don’t like the House Policy or By-laws, ask the president how to change them.

The president. The Chateau president is elected from among the members to facilitate council meetings, run elections, and make sure that the whole decision-making process is functioning smoothly and correctly. Any member who has a concern about the performance of one of the managers should discuss the issue with the president.

The USCA and its employees. Since what happens at Chateau affects the whole USCA, people who represent the USCA, such as its employees, student executives, and the board of directors, often make decisions affecting Chateau that they considers best for the whole organization. If you ever consider one of these decisions inappropriate, talk to your Chateau board rep about how to get it changed.

You. No matter how good our policies, procedures, and elected officials, Chateau only works when you, the members, make it work. It’s up to you to try to make good decisions at council, to supervise our managers, and, on a day-to-day level, to treat Chateau as yours, as something you care about and want to protect.

Council

Council should meet every one or two weeks at regular times set by council itself or by the president. The council meeting will be facilitated by the president or another experienced member. The Chateau vice-president or another member will take minutes at council and post a typed copy in all bathrooms.

Putting an item on the council agenda. The president is responsible for posting a council agenda in a visible place in Main House at least three days before any council meeting. If you have an issue to discuss or be acted on in council, write the issue or a proposal on the agenda before dinnertime (6:00 pm) the day before the meeting. Be as detailed as possible, so your housemates will be able to think about the issue before the meeting. If you haven’t been to many councils, it’s a good idea to ask the president’s advice about how to present your issue.

Participating at council. All members are encouraged to attend council and speak their minds; managers and at least one board rep are required to attend for reports and for any issues they have special information on. Non-members may attend and speak at the discretion of members. To speak at council, raise your hand to be called on by the facilitator. If many people want to speak at once, the facilitator will take a “speakers’ list” of people with raised hands.

Reports. Council begins with reports. Managers and most other elected officials are required to give a report at every council about their activities and the state of affairs of whatever they manage. Managers are also required to give a budget report every three weeks. Other members may give reports if they desire. Reports is the time to ask questions, raise concerns, and discuss any issue that doesn’t merit a separate agenda item. It’s also the time to just say how you’re feeling about the house¾don’t be shy!

Issues & proposals. After reports, council moves on to issues and proposals. Some issues may just be talked over without any decision being made. Sometimes council will discuss an issue and then delegate decision-making authority to a manager or other member(s). For complex issues, council may decide a committee of interested members should meet to do research or investigate a course of action and then make a recommendation to the next council meeting. Council may “table” an issue to the next meeting so someone can get more information. And, of course, council can make a decision, which is then binding for the course of the semester.

Consensus¾the theory. Council makes decisions by a process called consensus. In consensus, all members must consent to a proposal before it is passed. Each person’s goal should be to help council arrive at the best decision for the house as a whole. You should make your interests on an issue known, but also listen to everyone else’s and try to reach a decision that takes everyone’s interests into account.

Consensus¾the benefits. Here’s a few reasons we use consensus instead of majority rules. (1) Decisions that take into account multiple views are usually smarter decisions. (2) A decision that passes over the objection of a significant number of people results in bitterness and is difficult to implement. (3) Majority voting encourages a win-lose attitude at council, not listening to or considering the validity of opposing views, and general competitiveness and combativeness. (4) Consensus leaves the most people happy.

Consensus¾pitfalls to watch for. (1) Don’t let consensus turn into rule of the articulate old members. All members need to speak and make their views known. If you have a concern but can’t find the words to express it, say so! (2) Don’t be afraid of rocking the boat or being the only one to say no. If you feel uneasy about a decision, say so; don’t silently let it pass for fear of being a troublemaker. (3) On the flip side, don’t let consensus turn into tyranny of the minority by consistently blocking action. When you find yourself in a small minority, you’ve made your views known, everyone else remains unconvinced, and you think the decision unwise but not a total disaster, it’s usually best to let the decision pass. But if you think the decision a total disaster, stand firm and block it.

Consensus¾the process. First the facilitator will ask the person who wrote the agenda item to state the issue or proposal. The facilitator will then ask if anyone does not understand the issue/proposal or has any questions that will clarify it.

After all questions have been answered, the facilitator will call on people with hands raised to comment on the issue/proposal. People may state their approval, concerns, or objections to any proposal, and suggest alterations or additions to a proposal or offer new proposals. The minute-taker or facilitator should write down all suggested proposals and changes and also the various concerns that have been raised. The facilitator may choose to structure this discussion in a variety of ways, such as brainstorming, going around in a circle, taking straw polls, or breaking council up into smaller groups to discuss different parts of an issue. Council should not get bogged down hashing out every little detail of a proposal; detail work is best done before council by an individual or a small committee.

Some issues will resolve themselves easily. With harder issues, the facilitator may have council address concerns that have been raised one by one, so that each concern either gets dropped or is used to modify the proposal. Eventually, the facilitator will ask for hands to show how many people approve a proposal, how many people “stand aside,” which means they have some remaining qualms but are willing to let it pass, and if anyone “blocks” the proposal, which one should do if any concerns have not been addressed or if one feels the proposal is a total disaster for the house. Before any decision is approved, the minute-taker should read the proposal aloud so that everyone is crystal clear on what they’re voting on.

If there are any blocks or a significant number of stand asides, council will continue discussing the issue to make it more acceptable to all. If a proposal is unacceptable to many people, council may agree to drop it. If one or two people continue to block a proposal and council is at an impasse, council may table the issue for a week to give people time to come up with a new solution. Ultimately, the facilitator may call for a majority rules vote to resolve the issue, but this should be done very rarely.

Exceptions to consensus. The USCA and Chateau by-laws specify certain kinds of votes that must be done with a win-lose vote, not consensus. Putting a proposed change to the Chateau by-laws or any other issue to a ballot vote requires a 50% majority vote in council. Terminating a Chateauvian’s membership in Chateau and the USCA requires a XXX% vote in council. Putting a manager or other elected official up for a ballot recall vote requires a XXX% vote.

Special and emergency councils. Time-critical issues that cannot wait until the next scheduled council meeting can be dealt with at a special or emergency council meeting. Ask the president how to proceed.

Length of application of council decisions. Most council decisions affect only the semester in which they are passed. To alter the Chateau House Policy or make a decision affecting future sessions, you must make an announce the proposal at the previous council meeting and the announcement must appear in the minutes.

The managers¾an overview

Chateauvians elect student managers¾a house, workshift, maintenance, and two kitchen managers¾to perform complex organizational tasks not easily split up among over 80 people. We give them a partial or total deduction in their room and board fees in return for their extra labors. The managers are empowered to make decicions for us, but they are all ultimately accountable to us.

Managers and council. The managers should be at every council meeting to give reports, answer questions, and be information resources. Managers must give budget reports to council every three weeks. Council has the power to give a directive to a manager.

Managers and elections. Twice a semester, members vote on the compensation the managers (and president) receive. Members can also use a ballot vote to recall any manager or elected official.

Manager meetings. The managers and president should meet together periodically to coordinate their activities and discuss house matters.

Managers and the president. The president should keep an eye on whether the managers are doing their jobs and if they are overstepping their bounds. The president should talk with the manager and, if necessary, inform council if there is a problem.

Managers and you. Managers can do many things that affect you life¾give you bills to pay, decide what brand of cereal you get to eat, tell you to turn off your stereo at two in the morning, fine you for not doing your workshift. But they always have to treat you with respect. Managers have a hard job to do and you should let them do it. But at the same time, it is your job to supervise them and keep them from making decisions beyond their authority.

House manager

The house manager is generally responsible for the smooth operation of Chateau. The HM oversees the budget, room assignments, collection of house bills, building security, neighbor relations. The HM

Workshift manager

The workshift manager is responsible for the house’s workshift system, including temp shifts, permanent shifts, and house improvement hours. The WM should post workshift sign-up sheets during temp shifts and pass out workshift preference forms. The WM should then assign everyone permanent shifts. Every week the WM should post new workshift sheets, sign-out sheets, and up-down hour sheets. The WM is responsible for making sure everyone knows their workshift obligations and knows how to perform their jobs. The WM should communicate with people who miss their shifts and should inform council when a person has become excessively down hours. The WM should coordinate house improvement hours with the maintenance manager.

Maintenance manager

The maintenance manager is responsible for the Chateau maintenance program and for the grounds around Chateau. The MM should assemble, train, and oversee a maintenance crew of Chateau members and report their hours to the workshift manager. The MM’s job is not to fix everything; it’s to get the crew to fix everything. The MM should inform Chateau members how to report a maintenance problem. The MM is the house’s liaison to Central Maintenance (CM) and should attend the USCA Safety and Maintenance Committee. The MM should make sure the USCA adequately funds and performs maintenance work at Chateau. The MM should coordinate house improvement hours with the workshift manager. The MM controls the maintenance budget.

Kitchen managers

The kitchen managers are responsible for everything relating to food. They order food and supplies, oversee all cooks and kitchen workshifters, and control the kitchen budget. The Kms are responsible for kitchen and food safety. The KM’s should make sure everyone’s dietary needs are met. They should instruct all cooks how to submit menus. Most importantly, the kitchen managers order toilet paper.

C.O.

C.O., or Central Office, is the building on northside where most of our employees and student executives work and we go to pay bills, discuss our contracts, and take care of other business beyond the scope of our little Chateau. The building also houses Central Maintenance (C.M.) and Central Kitchen (C.K.), but we usually call the whole thing C.O. “C.O.” is also used as a catch-all term to refer to the central level of the USCA¾its policies, people, budgets, interests, successes, failures, etc.

C.O. and you. Most people at C.O. are excellent information resources. Ask them nicely, and you can get lots of useful advice; although if you go there whining about some petty house problem, they will probably tell you to go home and work it out on a house level. Treat your employees with respect and expect them to treat you likewise. They know who runs this organization¾us. So if you’re eighteen and right out of high school, don’t assume that the forty-year-olds at C.O. are going to treat you like your parents and teachers did. Talk to them as equals. On the other hand, if you are ever treated wrongly at C.O., don’t blow up, just tell the Chateau president¾you got family, we’ll back you up. There is also a student at C.O. called the Member Advocate, who can give you advice in dealing with the USCA central level. If people at C.O. do something you don’t like, keep in mind they’re probably just implementing a policy created by students like us.

Ballot votes

What they’re for. Ballot votes are held by the president and vice president (or other members in case of conflict of interest) to elect or recall managers and other officials, vote on by-law changes and other issues, and to determine the compensation of managers.

How they’re held. For elections, the president should post a nominations sheet XXX days before a ballot is made. The president should place a ballot in your mailbox without your name on it. Do not write your name on your ballot. The president or vice president should be available for three consecutive weekdays to collect ballots, usually at dinner. They will cross your name off a list when they accept your ballot and will not take more than one ballot from you.

What if they’re done wrong? In case of election irregularities you think may have affected the results, .....

Stuff you get in the mail from C.O.

Bills. You can pay your semesterly room & board charges in full at the start of the semester or in three installments, in which case you will receive bills from C.O. three times during a semester. Pay your bill at C.O. Monday through Friday from 10 am-5 pm (cash, check, money order, VISA, or Mastercard) or at the Rochdale Office on payment day only. Payments will be considered on time if they are dropped into the C.O. drop box defore 8 am the morning after the due date. Pay attention to the due date; late fines start at $20 and grow after two weeks. If you don’t think you can make a payment on time, talk to the Collections Bookkeeper at C.O. now to make an arrangement. If you go way in debt, you will be kicked out of the USCA, the ultimate punishment!

Your USCA contract. Your contract is valid from the beginning of the fall semester to the end of the spring semester (or summer only). Once you’ve signed your contract, you can cancel it without penalty by a deadline specified on the contract, generally XXXX before the start of the semester. Afterwards, you will incur a penalty for cancelling after the deadline. Ask the Operations Manager at C.O. if you have questions.

Stay/move out/transfer cards. At the end of each semester, C.O. will send you a bunch of multi-colored cards to fill out, one if you want to stay at Chateau, one if want to switch to a different house, and one if you want to leave the USCA. Be sure to return them by the deadline. If you don’t return any card to C.O. by the deadline at the end of fall, C.O. will assume you are staying at Chateau in spring and will hold you to your contract through spring!

Your Chateau financial obligations

In addition to money you pay the USCA, you will pay several housebills to Chateau each semester to cover our collective house expenses such as phone service, newspapers and cable TV, parties, and fines for not cleaning your bathroom or being excessively down hours. Write your check to “Chateau” and give it to the house manager. If you don’t pay, the money will just come out of your USCA security deposit, possibly with a late fee, depending on the whims of the current house manager.

Maintenance at Chateau

Minor maintenance jobs at Chateau are done by a crew of Chateau members under the supervision of the maintenance manager. If you want to be on maintenance crew as your workshift, talk to the MM at the start of the semester. If you have a maintenance request, notify the MM, who will either assign the job to crew members or, if the job is too difficult, call in the USCA’s central maintenance (CM) crew (the pros). Chateau has a maintenance budget which pays for purchases and visits by CM. Most large scale projects are approved by the USCA board once a year and are funded by the USCA as a whole. These are called Board Approved Projects (BAPs). The USCA also funds House Approved Projects (HAPs), large projects decided on by each house from an allotted budget. Ask the MM for more info on BAPs and HAPs.

Getting along with other people

Living with 86 people is hard. We all need to be considerate and respectful of each other. Most problems can be worked out with polite communication. Simply telling the other person you have a problem is usually enough to work things out. Retaliation, while immediately gratifying, is ultimately an ineffective means of working out problems. In difficult cases, you can consult the house manager or president. The USCA also has trained conflict mediators at your service. Chateau and the USCA do not tolerate sexual harrassment. If you think you are a victim of harrassment, ......

Organization of the USCA

The USCA is a 1200-member nonprofit corporation controlled by its members (that means you). In return for providing low-cost housing to college students, the USCA is exempted from paying income and property taxes.

The Board of Directors. Decisions for the USCA are made by the Board of Directors, which consists of members elected from each house, including two from Chateau. The Board of Directors elect the USCA executives¾the USCA president and four vice-presidents¾who chair Board and committee meetings and help implement Board decisions. The Board sets the yearly budget, determines what room & board fees will be, determines salaries, sets administrative policy, and supervises the central level managers.

Central Level staff and managers. Much of the day-to-day central level work and decision-making is sdone by employees, who are supervised by four central level managers: the Operations Manager (Vicki), Accounting Manager (Margie), Physical Plant Manager (Wes), and Member Resources Manager (Nancy). These four managers are themselves supervised by the USCA General Manager (George). The managers help run the USCA and implement policies set by Board.

AdCom. The Administrative Committee, consisting of elected members of seven houses (a different seven houses each semester), enforces and interprets policy set by Board. If you seek an exception to USCA policy or have a grievance against Chateau or the USCA, you may be refered to AdCom.

The houses. Each house in the USCA has its own budgets to spend, its own council to make decisions, and its own managers to help run the place. When house and USCA policy conflict, however, USCA policy takes precedence. The USCA central level provides many services to the houses: member recruitment and placement, food and supplies delivery, maintenance, and accounting, to name a few. The houses are not legal organizations outside of the USCA; they are parts of the USCA. If the USCA board feels that a house is doing something against the best interests of the USCA as a whole, it will do whatever it wants to change what is happening at the house.

You. You help control the USCA by electing the Chateau board reps and then telling them what you think the USCA should do. You can also vote in USCA-wide membership meetings, referenda, and initiatives, but these don’t happen very often. On the house level, you have a direct say in decision-making by attending council. You also elect and supervise Chateau’s managers. Finally, you can get more involved by running for house and central level offices.

USCA and Chateau finances

All the money you pay the USCA in room & board fees is either spent on operating the USCA, saved for future spending, or loaned to new start-up co-ops in other cities. None of it goes to profit any individual (although it does pay full a lot of employee salaries).

Centralized and decentralized expenses. The USCA’s expenses are split into two kinds: (1) Centralized expenses are controlled by the USCA Board of Directors and pay for costs that all USCA members should share in equally, such as mortgage and lease payments, salaries, insurance, taxes, and major maintenance projects. (2) Decentralized expenses are funds given to each house based on the number of people living there to pay for food, utilities, house level manager compensation, house maintenance, and the like. The USCA Board decides how much the houses should receive per person, but the house level managers and council decide how to spend it.

USCA budget-making process. The USCA Board sets the central level and house level budgets every spring for the following fall, spring, and summer. Most of the work in drafting a budget is done beforehand in Finance Committee. Chateau may want one of its spring board reps to serve on Finance Committee in order to influence the budget process.

Chateau’s budgets. The decentralized funds given Chateau by the USCA are broken down into a number of separate budgets: the kitchen budget (controlled by the kitchen managers), the maintenance budget (controlled by the maintenance manager), the .....

Budget oversight. All house budgets, even the ones controlled by a manger, should be closely monitored by council. This is your responsibility. If Chateau ends up in debt to the USCA at the end of a semester or fiscal year, you may have to pay off the debt out of your security deposit or along with your next room & board payment, so monitor Chateau’s budgets closely. Managers are required to give periodic budget reports to council; make ‘em do it!

Chateau’s bank accounts. Chateau has a checking and savings account at Wells Fargo Bank.

• • • Chateau trivia: Bands that have played at Chateau parties include Green Day, the Broun Fellinis, Iconochrist,...***

Part III: Tools for advanced Chateau living

How to advance a proposal at council

Your goal in advancing a proposal should be to get it passed, while at the same time taking into account the reasonable objections or suggestions of your housemates.

Before the meeting

Ask the president. The president may have good advice on how to present your issue and may also know how to achieve your objectives outside council.

Give advance notice. Write your proposal on the council agenda as early and in as much detail as possible. This gives your housemates a chance to think about the issue and discuss it with you. It also gives the facilitator time to consider the best way to organize the discussion. For really big issues, you may want to give notice at the previous council meeting.

Research. Get all the facts before council. Ask people with important information to be ready to give a presentation at the meeting.

Discuss. Discuss your proposal with as many members as possible informally in the days before the meeting. This will give you new ideas and stimulate ideas from your housemates. Ask people who agree with you to be at council to back you up. It is especially important to discuss your proposal with people you think will be skeptical of it or oppose it. You will learn their interests and may alter your proposal to accommodate them. You may convince them of your viewpoint or at least convince them that your intentions are good. That way they will come to council ready to discuss and not ready to fight.

Form a committee. Don’t do this for every issue, but it’s useful when an issue is either very controvertial or very complex. A committee can save council time and help it come up with a better decision.

For controvertial or divisive issues, a committee is a good way for people on each side of the issue to talk quietly and without pressure and to explain their viewpoints to each other. This should prevent council from turning into a three-hour yelling match. At the committee meeting, people on one side of the issue should explain their interests and motives until the people on the other side are able to repeat them in their own words. When everyone has done this, the committee should try to reach a solution that satisfies everyone’s interests¾or comes as close as possible. At council, the members of the committee should explain their original positions, their interests, and why the committee proposal satisfies their interests.

For any complex issue, a committee can help council by doing advance research, exploring the full range of options, and anticipating problems that might accompany each proposed solution. The committee should present a proposal to council and explain the options it considered and why the final proposal was chosen.

To give everyone a chance to participate on a committee and to prevent suspicion of it, it’s a good idea to announce the meeting’s time, location, and purpose during a previous council meeting and again during dinner and make it clear that every member is welcome to attend.

During the meeting

Be clear. When you present your proposal, speak slowly and clearly. Don’t use acronyms or slang not everybody understands. Make sure everyone is following you.

Give background. Present the history that led you to your proposal. Assume there’s at least one person in the room who knows nothing about the issue.

State your motives. Let council know your interests that led you to your proposal. You have a reasonable interest, but people opposed to your proposal may not know it. They may think you introduced your proposal because you don’t like them, you’re irresponsible, you don’t care about the house, you’re uptight¾who knows? It’s your job to tell them so they at least realize you’re a reasonable person and instead of presenting a stone wall to your proposal, they may offer alternatives that take your interests into account.

Don’t make enemies. Don’t attack anyone verbally. Beware of proposals that imply failure on the part of other people; find a way to assuage their egos.

If you are criticizing a person, tell council what they did and why it is a problem. Don’t say: “Frank, you didn’t do any workshifts for the last three weeks, you are so irresponsible.” Instead: “Frank hasn’t done any workshifts for the last three weeks. I think our house workshift system breaks down when people miss their shifts for so long. I think Frank needs to do something to make for the harm this has done the house.” This way, Frank understands that people felt harmed by his actions¾they don’t just dislike him¾and he is invited to help come up with the solution. He is still socially accepted in the house.

Consider objections. Voluntarily incorporate reasonable amendments into your proposal. If you have to reject an amendment or you disagree with an objection, state your reason clearly and politely. Remind council of your interests and the purpose of the proposal.

Encourage objections. Don’t let council rubber stamp your proposal without giving it any real thought. Rubber stamped solutions are usually dumb ones.

How the USCA Board of Directors makes a decision

What Board is. The USCA board of directors consists of elected members from all of the USCA houses, plus one alumni rep and one employee association rep. The USCA executives and managers attend board but cannot vote; the USCA president chairs the meetings. All USCA members may attend, speak, and even make motions at all board meetings. Board meets once every other Thursday at 7:00 at a difference house each time. The USCA president should send a “board packet”¾which includes a meeting agenda, reports from USCA executives and managers, information about items on the agenda, and minutes from the previous board and committee meetings¾to Chateau and its board reps several days before every board meeting.

Committees. Each board rep also serves on a committee. Committees meet during the week that board does not. The committees save board time by considering issues in depth and sending board well thought-out and researched proposals. Committees can also kill a proposal without sending it to board. The four committees are the Member Resources Committee, Safety/Maintenance Committee (S&MCom), Finance Comittee (FiCom), and Personnel and Operations Committee (POpCom).

From committee to Cabinet. A board issue can come from many sources: board reps, USCA executives or managers, employees, members, a committee or board itself, or a USCA long range planning retreat. A proposal will first be considered by a committee (generally after being researched and written out first). The committee may kill the proposal, ask for more information or work, amend it, or pass it. When a proposal passes, the chair of the committee sends it to Cabinet.

From Cabinet to Board. Cabinet, which consists of the USCA executives and two elected USCA members, sets the Board agenda and helps implement Board decisions. Cabinet may put the proposal on the board agenda, save it for a future meeting, or send it back to committee for more work if it is half-baked. When the issue finally comes up at board, it will be debated, perhaps amended, and finally either voted on, sent back to committee, or tabled.

Summer procedure. In the summer there are no committees, so issues generally go right to Cabinet and then to Board.

How to influence the Board of Directors

How to get an issue on the Board agenda. Most times, let your Chateau board rep do the work. Whether you or your board rep, someone should consult the USCA president or appropriate committee chair first. The president or committee chair may know how you can achieve your objective outside board, or else will tell you how to bring the issue to a committee for consideration.

How to convince Board reps that you’re right. Most of the principles in “How to advance a proposal at council” apply to advancing a proposal at board. Here’s a few extra points:

1) Board uses majority rules, not consensus. If you are in the minority, don’t expect the majority to graciously try to accommodate your interests. They will vote you down in a second and move on with their agenda. So you better come armed with one or two compromise motions to throw out if it looks like your original motion is doomed to defeat.

2) Most board reps don’t know you personally, so they may be especially suspicious of your motives. State your interests clearly; you’re just looking out for the best interests of the USCA, right? Don’t let your issue be perceived as Chateau vs. USCA. You won’t get any sympathy. If you want board to redress a wrong committed to Chateau, advocate a policy that will apply to all houses¾and will retroactively redress the wrong to Chateau.

3) Get ready to hit the books. If you’re proposing policy changes, your proposal needs them in writing. Research, research, research. Get help from the USCA president or appropriate committee chair.

4) Thirty Chateauvians marching into board to support or oppose a proposal is a good show of house unity and is very effective. Thirty chateavians filling up the speaker’s list to say the same thing just makes the meeting longer and pisses the board reps off. If you go to board en masse, choose several spokespersons to present your case. Everyone else can look angry and do power salutes.

5) Most board reps look to USCA executives, managers, or one or two experienced board reps for guidance. If you can convince these prominent people, you’re set.

6) If you don’t think you can get the bigwigs on your side, you better form a coalition with board reps from other houses¾and do it before the meeting. And if you’re going up against the USCA president and general manager, you better be able to say why your opinion about what is best for the USCA is right and theirs is wrong. Most board reps really want to do what’s best for the USCA.

7) Get as many people from the committee as possible to support your proposal. Once someone votes yes, it’s hard for them to vote no at board. At committee, incorporate ideas of your opponents into your proposal. That may turn them into supporters, both at committee and at board.

How to get new furniture

Chateau has a furniture budget. The house manager or maintenance manager can always just go and buy some furniture themselves. A better way to get furniture, however, is for a group of Chateauvians to create a furniture committee (open to all members), get council to approve a certain amount of money they can spend, and then borrow the co-op truck and go shopping at garage sales, thrift stores, and bargain stores.

How to plan a party

A party can be planned by a social manager or, ideally, by a volunteer social committee that is open to all members. Planning is best done early in order to line up good bands or Djs and to submit a party form to the Vice President of Safety and Maintenance (VPSM) at least ten days ahead of time. The planners should get council approval for the party, including how much to charge at the door, arrangements for security, and how much to spend (consider bands/DJs, sound equipment, decorations, and beverages). Again, time is important. Go to council early enough to get approval before the ten-day party form deadline. Talk to the VPSM ahead of time to learn his or her various expectations.

Someone needs to inform Chateau’s neighbors as soon as possible that the party is happening. The workshift manager or social committee should post a party workshift sign-up sheet and recruit members for various jobs. Chateau’s policy is that a party is cancelled if all shifts don’t get filled. Usual shifts are working the door (2), security (4), set-up ( ), and clean-up ( ).

Don’t plan too many bands. Two is enough, three max. Start early enough to give all bands a full set without going too late at night. 1:00 am is a typical ending time if you want to be considerate of Chateau’s neighbors. Avoid music that draws violent or destructive fans (most punk bands, unfortunately). The point of a party is to give Chateauvians a good time. Only host a benefit party if you think a lot of Chateauvians will enjoy the music and have fun.

How to not get burned out

Living at Chateau can be energy-draining, especially if your get very involved in issues or running the house. You need to know when to back away, recuperate, and let other people play some of the roles you’ve been playing.

Get outta town. First, get out of Berkeley once in a while. If you spend every moment in Chateau, it becomes everything to you and problems you confront here assume monumental proportions. Go camping, go on a road trip, do something to give yourself a breather and put things in perspective.

Psychic distancing. Learn how to respond to a problem without investing your soul in it. Chateau’s little failures are nothing to get all depressed about. We’re a bunch of kids working on a crazy experiment, so forgive us our faults. Be able to observe a problem, laugh at it, and then act on it. Don’t get mad; get effective.

Take a break. Don’t be house superstar every semester you live here. You can’t do it. Contribute a lot to the house one semester, then devote the next semester to other parts of your life. Maybe move out for a semester in the middle of your Chateau stay. There’s always someone else to fill your niche. If you feel you’re carrying too much weight on your shoulders, tell people! Maybe someone else has been wanting to do what you do but has been afraid of encroaching on your turf. Actively encourage other people to play a greater role in the house.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Better to contribute gradually for several years than be a burned-out ex-superstar after one semester.

USCA history

“Why can’t conditions be improved for hundreds of students like yourselves...by throwing your resources together? Living Together! Eating together! Working together! Sleeping together! Buying on a mass basis!”

Birth. With these words in February 1993, Harry Kingman inspired 14 male U.C. students to start the first student housing co-op in Berkeley (OK, I made up the sleeping together part). In the dire economic times of the Depression, students started such living and eating communities across America. With the sponsorship of the YMCA, which Kingman directed, the U.C. students rented a boarding house together and did workshifts to keep the place running.

Infancy. The following fall, the students leased an old fraternity house, which became the original Barrington Hall, with 50 students sleeping on second-hand army cots and mattress pads. A year later they leased another frat house, incorporated, and hired their first non-student general manager. Later they leased a 200-bed apartment building, which became the new Barrington Hall.

Childhood. In 1936, the USCA opened Stebbins, its first co-op for women. In 1938, it leased Oxford Arms, a 112-bed apartment house that came with a large kitchen, which the USCA used to cook food for all houses until 1966. In 1939, the USCA hosted a conference for other co-ops, which led to the formation of the Pacific Coast Student Co-operative League, a predecessor of NASCO. Also in 1939, the USCA bought Barrington Hall.

World War II. During World War II, the USCA had trouble filling male houses, so it closed one of them, turned the old Barrington Hall into a women’s house, and opened a new women’s house, called Sherman. It also rented Barrington Hall to the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1948. Because of the internment of Japanese-Americans, the Japanese Students’ Club could no longer pay rent on its building; The USCA rented it in 1943 but gave it back to the Japanese students in 1948. The co-op eventually bought the house in 1968 and called it Euclid Hall. In 1945, the co-op prepared for the influx of returning soldiers by purchasing Ridge House, and in 1946 leased Cloyne Court, a large hotel.

The loyalty oath. In 1953, the same year the USCA bought Hoyt Hall, California citizens voted that tax-exempt organizations would lose their tax exemption if they did not sign a loyalty oath to the U.S. government. The oath split the Berkeley campus and the USCA. While the USCA Board voted not to sign it, a referendum of the membership supported the oath, which was officially signed in 1954 (wimps). On the bright side, in 1958 Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at the USCA’s 25th anniversary celebration.

The Empire State Co-op. In the late 1950s, the USCA began fundraising to build a 1,050-bed co-op on the land next to Ridge Hall. The plan fell through (thank god), but fundraising continued. In 1966, Ridge Project (renamed Casa Zimbabwe in 1987) opened, funded largely by donations from members, alumni, U.C. faculty, and other co-ops. Ridge Project provided the USCA a warehouse, central kitchen and office space, and housing for 128 students. Ridge Project was the first co-ed student housing in Berkeley, and most other co-ops and dorms followed soon after.

The 60s and 70s. The USCA bought Kidd Hall and the Northside Apartments in the early 1960s. In 1970, a financial decentralization plan began, giving houses control over such expenses as food supplies, utilities, and managers’ compensation. The Greek system became less popular in the 60s and 70s, and the USCA bought three former sororities: Davis in 1969, Andres Castro Arms in 1971 (named after a former USCA cook), and Wolf House in 1974. In 1975, the USCA opened its first vegetarian co-op, Lothlorien, in buildings formerly owned by the One World Family commune. In 1977, the USCA bought Kingman Hall, former home of the Berkeley Living Love Center. Also in 1977, the USCA closed Oxford Hall, long below city earthquake and fire codes, and bought our lovely Chateau, which promptly filled up with former Oxford Hall residents.

Uncle Sam builds co-ops. After lobbying by Harry Kingman and the USCA, Congress gave the co-op a low-interest loan to build a 262-bed apartment complex. Rochdale Village Apartments opened in 1971, on University-owned land. Another loan from the U.S. financed Fenwick Weavers’ Village, opened in 1981.

The closing of Barrington Hall. In the 1960s, Barrington Hall was a campus center of the anti-Vietnam War movement. In the early 1980s, Barringtonians founded Students Against Fee Extortion (SAFE), an anti-fee hike group unrivaled by later student efforts. In 1985-86, Barrington led the student movement to force the University to divest from the apartheid regime in South Africa (so many Barringtonians were involved that at one point that Barrington dinners were served at the shantytown that student protesters had erected on Sproul Plaza). Barrington was famous for its muraled walls, anarchic social atmosphere, and “wine dinner” parties, featuring bands such as Primus, ....... In the late 1980s, Barrington was blamed by neighbors for harboring drug dealers and child runaways and for dropping large appliances of its roof into their yards. Facing immense lawsuits from Barrington’s neighbors and vacancies at Barrington, the USCA closed Barrington in 1989, in a referendum vote that polarized the entire organization (Chateau was “pro-Barrington”).

After Barrington. Some Barringtonians refused to be evicted and “squatted” the building, leading the USCA to hire security guards to patrol the squatters. The squatters held a poetry reading, which the guards called the Berkeley Police Department to break up. The BPD came en masse and beat the squatters and their guests mercilessly, an event that led to the formation of the community group Copwatch. Barrington Hall was eventually sold and became a private rooming house (Evans Manor on Dwight Street). The bitterness the war over Barrington caused led many people to move out of the USCA, and the USCA has yet to recover the co-op spirit that this war destroyed.

Recent history. The USCA rented a convent from the University in 1992 as a graduate/re-entry student co-op, called the Convent. Today, the USCA is still looking for houses to lease or purchase, although the vacancy problem remains at some of the bigger houses. Inter-house co-op spirit has been elusive to this day. Perhaps something a new generation of Chateauvians can change?

The student co-op movement

The first student co-op in America was a textbook and firewood co-op at Harvard University in the late 1800s. Today there are student co-ops throughout the world. Student co-ops in the U.S. and Canada are organized together through North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO). NASCO provides training to the USCA’s board of directors, organizes conferences for co-op members and managers (such as WESTCO), publishes Co-op Voices, runs a summer co-op internship network, and helps start new student co-ops. The USCA has lent money to new co-ops started by NASCO. If you’re interested in a summer intership at a co-op, give NASCO a call at (313) 663-0889. Also, if you’re travelling through North America, you can stay overnight at most NASCO member co-ops. For more information, ask at C.O. to see the NASCO Guide to Campus Cooperatives.

Co-op theory and the international co-op movement and how you can get involved with it

A co-op is a business owned by its members for their collective benefit. There are three main kinds of co-ops: worker co-ops, consumer co-ops, and marketing co-ops. In a worker co-op, people who provide a good or service own a business together in order to provide themselves employment with a good wage. In a consumer co-op, people who receive a good or service own a business together to receive the good or service they couldn’t get without the co-op or couldn’t get at a good price. Student housing co-ops are one kind of consumer co-op. We own and run a business (the USCA) in order to provide ourselves food and housing more cheaply than the college dormitories can provide. Other kinds of consumer co-ops include retail store co-ops (such as REI), food co-ops, insurance co-ops, and rural electricity co-ops. A credit union, such as the Cooperative Center Credit Union in Berkeley, is like a cooperative savings and loan; its depositors and creditors are all member-owners of the credit union. There are also housing co-ops other than student co-ops, such as the many low-income housing co-ops in Berkeley. In a marketing co-op, individuals or small businesses that produce a good own a business that sells their goods collectively in order to compete with large producers. Most marketing co-ops market agricultural products.

Co-ops exist to give strength to individuals. A solitary worker can try to own his own business but probably can’t compete against large businesses. He can join a large business, but then will have little voice in his own work life and will see shareholders make profits off his labor. Or he can join a worker co-op, which can compete against large businesses, gives him a voice in decisions, and does not give profits to nonworking shareholders.

A solitary consumer has little voice in what goods or services are offered him and how much they cost. A consumer co-op decides what to provide and charges members just enough to cover expenses. In the case of housing,

The members of a worker co-op, for instance, own their business in order to provide themselves with decent employment. Members of a consumer co-op own theirs to provide themselves with goods or services they couldn’t get at a fair price without the co-op. Members of a marketing co-op own theirs to get a competetive market