Warren Wilson College Co-op Decreases in Popularity
Emily Cobb | September 6, 2023
Warren Wilson College (WWC) had a thriving co-op for years… that is, until recently. While in previous years the school’s co-op had an entire dorm building — Shepard — it is now two people living in Eco dorm.
The co-op is a group of students off of the meal plan who cook their own food. In exchange for paying for a meal plan, roughly $6,000 a year, a $475 stipend is given per semester and meals in Gladfelter are provided for the first week of each semester.
Hannah Herman, a junior, is one of the two students participating in the co-op, her roommate being the other. She is double majoring in outdoor leadership and environmental education and is on the Wellness Crew. This is their second year living in the Eco dorm and being a part of the co-op.
In the previous year, on each floor of Eco dorm, there was a co-op wing. For the 2023-2024 school year, no rooms or floors were set aside for the co-op. Herman believes that is because being a part of the co-op is not a financially responsible decision Residence Life wanted to promote.
Lander Sartin is a junior and is on the Fiber Arts Crew. They were part of the co-op last year in Eco. They originally joined the co-op in the hopes of finding a community and a different living style. However, Sartin found that reality did not meet expectations.
“We [the co-op] were supposed to act as one group, but then we were separated, and we ended up working in different kitchens,” Sartin said. “So it became two different groups and then smaller subsections. We had problems with people stealing our stuff, and getting in the way of people trying to make dinner for a large group of people, which was tough.”
Herman also felt that setting rooms aside specifically for the co-op was not fair to other students who wanted to live in Eco but not participate in the co-op.
Herman said one of the things she especially struggles with is the difficulty of sharing meals with others.
“It’s more time-consuming to plan and cook your own meals and have to pack lunch if you want to eat on the other side of campus,” Herman said. “It's just the social aspect… It's extra effort to eat with other people outside of the co-op.”
Sartin decided not to participate in the co-op again due to multiple reasons.
“Well, for one the stipend,” Sartin said. “They give you $475 each semester, but then they charge you the full price of a meal plan. And you're not allowed to go to Gladfelter and you don't get flex dollars. I'm not a person who has a lot of dietary requirements, but there was a lot of people who did have dietary requirements, which for me, severely impacted how I was able to cook. Which was really stressful in the middle of the week trying to cook for a whole bunch of different people with dietary restrictions.”
This stipend enforces a tight budget onto students, a budget that is a struggle to meet.
“Last semester, we went to Bounty and Soul as well as BOB [Box of Baguettes] and we all spent over $475,” Herman said. “I know in previous semesters it was possible, but I think with food inflation right now and the inflation of all prices, it's just not possible anymore. Especially when a lot of people who are drawn to co-op have dietary restrictions, which often makes it [food] more expensive.”
Sartin agreed, also mentioning how they felt the small stipend in exchange for the full meal plan price felt like the school was trying to make a profit off of them.
Herman’s dietary restriction is what originally led them to join the co-op.
“I can't eat at Gladfelter and I wanted to be in a space where other people were cooking and I could eat meals with people and not have to pack my meal and take it or have people bring their food to me,” Herman said.
Herman enjoys being in the co-op, especially when it comes to community and sharing local and nutritious meals with others. To Herman, the co-op’s values align with WWC and its students.
“A lot of people here value being connected to their food and being able to make autonomous food choices and I think that the co-op gives people the ability to do that,” Herman said.
Sartin had mixed feelings.
“I feel like the co-op is a perfect representation of Wilson's values on the surface,” Sartin said. “Yes, it's great and we can foster community but is it really fair to charge people that same amount when you don't give them the same value? Especially when it comes to people's food. There are so many people who are forced into the co-op because of Gladfelter’s failures.”
Herman has some ideas as to how the co-op could improve.
“My dream situation would be that everyone in the co-op got a full refund of the meal plan and we'd have a big garden out front where we can grow our own food,” Herman said. “Also to have a lot of community involvement and have other people here and share this space with us even if they're not part of the co-op.”
Sartin thinks an improved co-op could be everyone living in one cohesive unit, whether that be a floor or an entire dorm.
But who controls the stipend, and how can it be changed?
Tammy Smith, the office manager/administrative assistant for WWC’s dining service, said that Sodexo has nothing to do with the stipend nor the co-op besides the temporary meal plan at the start of each semester. According to Smith, the stipend is completely decided by the college. Financial aid said they did not handle the stipend, and that the checks come from student accounts. But, when student accounts and housing were asked neither of them claimed responsibility. This brings up the question of how can students implement change regarding the co-op’s stipend if there is no administration that lays claim to it.
The co-op and its lack of accessibility highlights an issue at WWC: the lack of access to quality food. At WWC, there are two dining options, Gladfelter and Cowpie. Owls Nest does offer snacks and drinks, but nothing substantial. With the loss of Sage Cafe, a cafe that stayed open till late at night and provided food, WWC has become something of a food desert from 8 p.m. onwards.
Sartin wanted to stress how the co-op in Eco dorm represented not just a food and monetary problem, but an infrastructural one as well.
“I feel like the Eco dorm in general is like a microcosm of the school itself,” Sartin said. “They [WWC] market it as like ‘Oh, we're sustainable’, and then the composting toilets don't work, the solar panels don't work and they haven't worked. There are just so many issues and then the school still parades around that we're eco-focused…There are big issues that the school overlooks in terms of infrastructure that they have not fixed for a long time and need to address.”