The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) began as a pioneer in composting services in the city of Berkeley, and now are a model for overall waste reduction. In 2000, the city of Berkeley approached the co-ops with a proposal to start a green waste pickup program. Prior to that, the city only picked up green waste from restaurants. The composting program started off with one dumpster in the Central Kitchen loading area. Within a year, we had green waste bin pickups at every house. As the city did not offer composting bins appropriate for use within the house, the Central Kitchen ordered several personalized green bins for every co-op kitchen, making it easier to dispose of green waste in compost bins rather than the trash can.

When 60 of us returned in Fall 2007 after being gone for almost nine months, we were expecting to return to the CZ we had known prior to the retrofit.  The house, however, had changed radically.  Though it featured many new amenities, many characteristics of the house that had accumulated over the years had been wiped clean by the necessary construction.  The space was new again, and upon moving in, this 'newness' seemed daunting to returning members who were used to living in an environment that had developed years of character and style.  We had changed as well.  Our social lives had diverged from one another's during the nine months that the house had been closed.  Many returning members had to confront their expectations of resuming life in CZ as it was in the past.

Please join us on April 26th, 2008, for a Kingman Amphitheater Celebration to commemorate the completion of the first stage of the amphitheater restoration project. The event, held from 1pm to 5pm, will include a smorgasbord of gourmet eats provided by the Kingman residents and live music. Following a discussion of how the amphitheater will be transformed into a community space, the students welcome all in attendance for an open microphone music and story afternoon. Proceeds from the event will fund the next stages of the project.

Alumni young and old leave the co-ops with a drive to continue in the cooperative spirit and share the skills that they have learned. Recently we have had an outpouring of co-op graduates who, before going straight into careers, travel throughout the globe and utilize their experiences for aiding those in need. Among those who have utilized their skills to give back to the global community are these three young alumni from Kingman Hall: Parissa Vassef (’04) spent eight months in Madagascar volunteering at a public hospital, Dharushana Muthulingham (’05) interned in Ecuador for aSex Worker’s Health Clinic & Research Center, and Kristin Bard (’06) spent a year and a half in Bolivia managing a program for sustainable development.

A hearty welcome to our newest Board members Desiree Sideroff, Scott Hayes and Madeleine Loh. We are very excited to have an influx of younger folks onto our Alumni Board of Directors, and hope the trend will continue.We will be holding elections for the Board of Directors at the Alumni Association Annual Meeting on October 13, 2007, Homecoming Weekend. Read more about our Alumni Association at www.bsc.coop/alumni. If you are thinking about becoming a Board member, please call 510-848-1936 or email Nancy Blattel, our Membership Chair at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.

Casa Zimbabwe, formerly the Ridge Project, has been closed since January 2007 for a seismic retrofit. Reopened for the Fall 2007 semester, the newly refurbished CZ features a remodeled and renovated kitchen with all new appliances, an expanded common room, a remodeled bathroom and laundry room, and a newly painted exterior. In addition, we’ve installed an elevator and modified several bedrooms to make the house wheelchair accessible.