Cooperative Options at Vassar College
Ferry House
Ferry has had a long tradition of cooperative living, dating back to 1933 as a way for students to reduce the cost of attending Vassar. Originally programs existed in Raymond, Main, and even Blodgett which housed students from 1933 – 1938. In 1938 the cooperative living in Blodgett was moved to Palmer House, until it was closed by the college in 1947 for a variety of reasons. Cooperative living, however, was brought back to Vassar through the creation of Ferry House.
In 1950, Dexter Ferry gave the college $200,000 to build a new cooperative house, Mr. Ferry, whose sisters donated money to build Alumnae House, made the gift, "in grateful appreciation of all Vassar has done for the Ferry family." The building was designed by Marcel Breuer and opened as a cooperative student residence in the fall of 1951.
Since 1951 Ferry House has been a cooperative living option at Vassar College. For a couple years the building was used for transfer student housing due to lack of applicants for the cooperative option, and on at least one other occasion the building was closed briefly because students living there were not keeping it clean. However, for most of its half-century existence Ferry has made a valuable contribution as a residential option at Vassar College.
Ferry House Today
Ferry House is a unique space on campus committed to sustainable and environmentally aware co-operative living. Each semester brings new faces and ideas that take the co-operative lifestyle to new places; all members affect how the house grows.
Ferry House is a close-knit community of 20 Vassar students. We all have different majors, political beliefs, opinions, tastes, and sleeping habits and we thrive on this diversity.
Ferry is an egalitarian household and all house decisions are reached through a consensus process. Managerial responsibilities are distributed amongst the house in the form of 20 semester long jobs. There are no elected positions or authorities within the House, and everyone's opinions are considered equal. All Ferry house members gather at a weekly meeting to discuss upcoming house events, issues, and the overall direction of household decisions.
The Community House Co-Ops
The Community House Co-Ops (CHs) are two ten-person living units located in a new TH block that opened in the Spring semester of 2009. The houses will be dynamic, constantly changing along with the interests and personalities of their current members. The CHs will be communities of students who value diversity and are committed to community. They will all be dedicated to living, working, and playing cooperatively. A shared commitment to community building is essential in any cooperative environment. This is a way to share your space, your food, and responsibility with a group of peers.
The Vassar Experimental Garden (V.E.G.)
The Vassar Experimental Garden (V.E.G.) was started March 2009 by a group students interested in learning to grow their own food and share gardening skills and information. The V.E.G. was organized through the Cooperative Living Extension of ResLife and is designed as a cooperative for students and non-students within the Vassar Community. Anyone interested in learning to garden, share garden skills, or just take a peek at what’s growing is invited to stop by. We will be selling produce through a weekly farmers market back to students and members of the Vassar Community [first harvest predicted mid-June, more info to come].
The Eating Cooperative
The Eating Cooperative is a community of 20-25 students with a variety of backgrounds who meet weekly to prepare and eat dinners together. As a cooperative organization, the members of the group rotate the jobs of shopping, cooking, and cleaning, and all decisions are made by the consensus of present members of the group. The group makes a concerted effort to use local, organic foods and to execute its dinners as sustainably as possible. The logistics for the cooperative are managed by the cooperative living interns, who report to ResLife biweekly on the status of the co-op.