Maya Denkmire, Membership Secretary Eloise Rich, Treasurer Maya Amanat, Chair of the Board 12-Month Employees: Linda Doan, Financial Manager Sundance, Business Coordinator 9 and 10 Month Employees: Barbie Thompson, Food Safety Advisor The Oberlin Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1962 that feeds and houses Oberlin College students.

The first Oberlin co-op, Pyle Inn, opened in 1930 but due to poor funding existed only intermittently.

The Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) was founded in conjunction between Pyle and the newly opened Grey Gables, with a mission to serve as an educational and social committee.

In the spring of 2002, OSCA created the institution of COPAO, the Committee on Privilege and Oppression, which explores racial and socio-economic inequality within the cooperative system.

During the COVID Pandemic in 2020, Oberlin College and OSCA negotiated a new rent contract, more officially splitting the two entities.

This, along with declining membership and inflation, has led to tensions within OSCA in the last few years, especially as recent leadership teams have deteriorated relationships with Oberlin College.

OSCA members fill all positions within the co-ops, such as president, Sexual Harm Information Liaisons (SHILs), head cook, and kitchen prep.

Members of OSCA do all of the cooking, cleaning, food buying, baking, and other tasks within their individual co-ops.

These officers, along with other student staff and adult employees, make up the general management team, or the GMT.

The principles which guide modern cooperative organizations including OSCA were formulated in 1844 by a group of textile workers in Rochdale, England who were fed up with the exploitative nature of the market during the British Industrial Revolution.

They decided to pool their money and open a small retail store which operated on principles which have become the foundation of modern co-ops.

[6] The principles laid down by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers have since been adapted to fit the modern cooperative context.

Also in 1979, Harkness created the Contraceptive Co-op, which eventually transformed into today's Sexual Information Center at Oberlin.

Harkness traditions include operating the large basement dining room as a dance club and hosting a Jellyfish Parade during every full moon.

Harkness is also home to Third World Social Justice Co-op (TWSJ), which provides safe-space housing for BIPOC Oberlin Students and OSCA members.

Tank is OSCA's second-largest co-op, located a quarter mile east of any other building on Oberlin's Campus.

Tank is also home to the Book Co-op, which offers used textbooks to Oberlin College students free of charge.

In its space, Oberlin College now operates Clarity Dining Hall, an allergen-free kitchen.

Though OSCA has not rented Old B since the end of the pandemic, Oberlin College still operates the building as a women and trans* dorm through its identity-based housing program.