Operations
OSCA pays rent to the College for use of its buildings. In exchange, it operates almost completely autonomously. Student members vote by OSCA's consensus process on all rules, both for the system as a whole and its individual housing and dining coops. Members also implement and enforce virtually all decisions.
OSCA employs four employees: a Business Coordinator, a Financial Manager, a Food Safety Advisor, and an Office Assistant. OSCA members fill all other positions within the co-ops. For example, the President of OSCA, Education Coordinator, head cook, and kitchen prep are all positions filled by Oberlin student members of OSCA. Members of OSCA do all of the cooking, clean up, food buying, composting, and other tasks within their individual co-ops. Each co-op decides at the beginning of each semester how much time members need to put in (usually about five hours a week). For those who hold jobs outside of the co-op, most co-ops will offer “time aid” to significantly reduce the number of co-op hours required. Every member of OSCA must clean up after one meal a week.
Every spring, OSCA members vote for the corporation's officers for the next year. These officers, along with the two Operations Managers, the two Cleanliness and Maintenance Coordinators, one of two Education Coordinators, the Financial Manager, the Business Coordinator, the Office Assistant, the Food Safety Advisor and the OSCA/Oberlin College Liaison make up the General Management Team, or the GMT. The GMT deals with the day-to-day operations of the co-ops. The Board of Directors is made up of two representatives from every co-op as well as a Chair of the Board. These members then elect which staff positions should also sit on the Board.
There are no meal cards or cafeteria trays in co-ops. Communal meals are prepared at least for lunch at 12:20 pm and dinner at 6:20 pm, and the kitchens are open 24/7. Guest policies are set by members so they can bring friends and professors to meals. Many co-ops are vegetarian and vegan-friendly, and allergy awareness among the membership is always a priority.
Read more about this topic: Oberlin Student Cooperative Association
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