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Inter-Cooperative Council History- Part 2
Between 1953 and 1965, the membership actively supported a period of steady expansion. Houses for Lester, which
had been previously rented and Brandeis, a new co-op for married students and children were purchased in the 50's
bringing the total number of owned houses to six. In late 1961, members approved a 2% increase in rates to pay
for expansion and soon afterwards a 20% increase in development funding was approved. At about the same time, the
five existing kitchens were renovated, and two houses were added,
Vail and Mark
VIII. In 1965, Pickenil house was purchased and joined to Mark VIII (today known as
Baker). These two houses and Stevens constituted Tri-House,
the first co-ed co-op.
Between 1968 and 1971 came a period of explosive growth.
Debs House was purchased
in 1967, and in that year planning began for the
North Campus Co-ops. The North Campus
building was opened, still unfinished, in the fall of 1970. The 216 new members slept in sleeping bags at the Sterns
Building until he construction was finished. In 1970, Bruce (today known as
Truth) and
Minnie's houses were
also opened. In a single year ( 1970 ) the capacity of the ICC went from 200 to 540 members. In 1971, Xanadu was
opened bringing the number of ICC members to about 600. The houses were divided into three "Divisions"
to decentralize governance and management.
From 1978 to 1980, the houses were rehabilitated with the help of a
HUD loan for $1.6 million. Maintenance in many houses had gone lacking under the
system of division maintenance budgets.
An active Rehab Committee worked hard to improve the physical part of the ICC.
The ICC since 1978 has changed a little while changing a lot. The Board has placed more emphasis on planning
and improving the quality of life in the co-ops. North Campus
was reorganized from 11 co-ops to 2 ( Renaissance and
O'Keeffe ) and the
larger rooms were made optionally double or single. In 1985 the membership at the ICC annual meeting unanimously
approved a restructuring of ICC governance, eliminating separate Division Councils and naming house presidents
as representatives to the Board of Directors. The staff structure was altered that same year to give the new Executive
Director, Jim Jones, more of the powers of a general manager.
And , in 1986, the ICC began to grow again, as Xanadu was sold and four building purchased. Two comprised
Luther House, named the honor Luther Buchele, one became
Black Elk, and the fourth is the ICC's Moses Coady-Paulo Friere
Cooperative Education Center. Regular expansion again became a part of ICC planning. In 1988
Linder House was purchased. This allowed
Minnie's to become monogamous boarding with
Mich House and for
Linder members to board at
Vail. In 1990 the apartment house next to
Nakamura was purchased and named Kagawa for Toyohiko
Kagawa the Japanese cooperator. This house was run as apartments for several years until it was decided to convert
to "suites"(larger apartments) that are part of Nakamura.
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