TWC Offers OSCA Alternative

"Stop! From this point on is Third World Members only! Thanks!" So reads a sign to the portion of Baldwin Cottage that is Third World Co-op.

In 1993, a group of students decided to propose a seventh co-op to Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. At that time, the Third World Co-op (TWC) founders wanted to share in the cooperative living experience, but they felt OSCA was inaccessible to students of color. After testing out the new co-op as a winter term project, they chartered TWC.

Part of the Co-op's statement of purpose is "to bring together people who have been historically and structurally disenfranchised from OSCA. This is primarily people of color, but also includes international students, low-income students and first-generation students, not currently in OSCA."

The feeling that OSCA is "white-dominated" and insensitive to privilege is still prevalent in TWC. Junior TWC member Kasi Chakravartula said, "Keep had a 'ghetto' themed special meal, serving Mac-and-Cheese, frozen vegetables, and beer. Some people heard that during Pyle Inn's change of name [from Asia House] discussion, a co-oper joked, 'We don't eat dog.'''

Another resident in Third World Co-op, junior Miriam Jackson, said, "There's also a direct misappropriation of culture. In other co-ops, there's a disrespect for cultural roots in preparation of 'ethnic' food, like tofu or curry. This results in the co-optation of culture through food. It's not a mystery as to why students of color feel alienated from that kind of environment."

A Harkness Co-op member who spoke to the Review on the condition of anonymity said, "OSCA is white-dominated. In general, non-TWC co-opers are pretty ignorant of issues spoken of in Third World Co-op. Not many people make the effort to find out about those issues. I've had experiences feeling welcome and unwelcome in TWC. I don't think I can generalize about the rest of OSCA, but in my personal experience: some people are very aware, and others haven't been challenged in their seat of privilege."

Another Harkness member, first-year Steven Freed said, "Third World Co-op is segregating itself from other coops. It might be true that OSCA is white-dominated, but [TWC] should be more inclusive if they want to let people know what their arguments are."

Members of TWC have been arguing against allegations of exclusion and separatism since the co-op's conception. Sophomore Chester Poon said, "There must be something about TWC that makes students of color feel they belong here more than they belong in other co-ops."

A recently accepted applicant, junior Sharon Tantoco said, "I decided to join Third World Co-op because the first night I ate there, I felt completely relaxed and did not feel the pressure to be anybody but myself. I choose Third World over other co-ops because it sets itself apart from others by being smaller and more community and 'family-based.'"

OSCA mandates that all applicants retain their anonymity as part of the official process. One student of color who is intending to apply said, "One, Third World Co-op has better food, and two, people respect my cultural background and difference there. For instance, I can eat with chopsticks without people essentializing Asians." A student of color from Harkness, first-year Julie Dulani, said, "I felt really comfortable in TWC. It was a very accepting place ‹ somewhere I didn't feel out of place."

Chakravartula said, "TWC isn't about excluding white people. Why do white people always think it's about them? It isn't about excluding anyone. Besides, there are white co-op members here. It's about trying to harbor a space for students of color on this campus. It's about constructing a space for people that feel 'out of place' because of socially established hierarchies, like race. From this, co-opers can go out and interact with non-members in a more positive manner. The problem is that people don't think we contribute to their experience.

"First of all, they shouldn't be so selfish. And second of all, we are contributing: we participate in class, we write letters to the newspaper, we host speakers, and we speak our thoughts when we feel the need. It's not like we go into the co-op and never come out. Just the fact that we're at Oberlin means we're contributing," Chakravartula said.