The BSC Board of Directors is doing a feasibility analysis of re-opening Barrington Hall and seeks alumni input.  With your permission, your submission may be featured in BSC communications.

Take the Barrington Alumni survey now!

Almost a year before the expiration of the Berkeley Student Cooperative’s forty-year, $1/year ground lease of the University-owned land on which the BSC built Rochdale Village, our community began talking about the approach we would take come lease renewal time. At the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester, we attended a less than encouraging meeting with a UC official. This meeting confirmed that the task at hand was going to be challenging. We were alarmed by comments from UC officials that the UC was considering other uses for the property and statements from some that they were no longer interested in collaborating with the BSC.

On October 17, 2009, more than 250 alumni and current members of the Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) convened for a celebration of the re-opening of Cloyne Court following its closing in Spring and Summer 2009 for the most expensive renovation of BSC property in the organization’s almost eight decades of operations.

T.Z. Chu, former Ridge House Manager and BSC President and himself a summer resident of Cloyne Court, addressed the crowd with these reflections on the impact his BSC experience had on his successful business career.

I would like to share with you a few insights about how the Co-op has helped shape my career and life.  First, I ask you to transport yourself to the environment and circumstance of Berkeley and the United States back 56 years ago in 1953, when I first arrived at Berkeley.

Many attribute the prolonged recession we’re now experiencing to Wall Street executives’ focus on short-term profits at the expense of what’s best for their companies in the long term.  That’s an investment choice that the leaders of the Berkeley Student Cooperative have confronted over and over this past year.  And, consistently, they’ve placed their money on the future of the BSC—foregoing cheaper rates right now in order to make investments that will make the BSC more financially sustainable for the long term.

In 2009, after two prior failed attempts, the BSC’s Sustainability Coordinator submitted a successful proposal to Pacific Gas and Electric to qualify the BSC to receive a CARE discount on utility rates.  The BSC’s selection resulted in an immediate 20% discount on utility bills—which account for about $500,000 of the organization’s $9 million annual operating budget.  The Sustainability Coordinator immediately submitted a proposal to the Board to invest any savings that resulted from the CARE discount into the organization’s Energy Efficiency Fund, which had heretofore been funded by occasional rebates on energy-saving appliances and improvements.  She argued that by investing the savings from the CARE discount in energy saving improvements at the houses, we would generate long-term savings in energy costs for the organization and reduce our carbon footprint.  Her proposal passed.

Dear BSC Alumni:

As part of the Save Rochdale campaign, I recently had the opportunity to get to know Jan Stokley, BSC Executive Director.  Jan has told me that many of you struggled financially during your college years, and, now you give from your own pockets to fund scholarships to help students with the cost of tuition and housing.  I write to tell you the story of how I’ve managed to continue my education.  I hope my story convinces you that the need for affordable student housing is as great now as it has ever been.

I was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles. I was a top student in high school.  I had the opportunity to attend UCLA, but I really wanted the challenge of going to Berkeley.  Despite being undocumented, I was eligible for in-state tuition under a state law called AB 540 which grants in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduate from a California high school after attending it for at least three years.

The Co-op experience turns out smart and venturesome co-opers who move on to various professions and life trajectories.  Yet many of us are inclined to retrace our steps and give back to the community that instilled the conscientious thinking and resourcefulness that made us successful.  The BSC, with the guidance of Jan Stokley, has done an excellent job utilizing the various talents and interests of BSC alumni to great effect.  For example:

Ann Ophera is a CPA based in Oakland who devotes endless (and late) hours to the Finance Committee as a non-voting member.  Ann, a Barringtonian, also helps the BSC analyze relevant financial terms.