DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune
David Gonzalez stocked food dispensers at the Food Co-op at UCSD, where students and administrators have been hard-pressed to reach lease agreements with four on-campus co-ops.
|
The long-running tensions between the University of California San Diego and its funky student cooperatives have flared up again.
After more than a year of negotiations on a new lease agreement, the co-ops have filed a grievance with the university, complaining that the administration is not negotiating in good faith and is threatening to evict them.
Friday's deadline to renew the agreement has been postponed until Nov. 15.
The four co-ops at UCSD fill a niche. Students work as a collective. Their goal is to offer products at low prices.
The co-ops are the Che Cafe, a popular counterculture hangout; Groundwork Books, a bookstore with eclectic, leftist selections; the General Store Co-op, which features notebooks, sweat shirts and snacks; and the Food Co-op, which sells organic and health foods.
Each operates as a nonprofit, funneling any profits back into operations.
The problem, administrators say, is the co-ops lack accountability.
Currently, undergraduate and graduate student leaders are responsible for making sure the co-ops submit timely financial reports and audits and follow university policies and safety regulations.
Administrators say student leaders are not holding the co-ops accountable. Administrators, for example, said when the co-ops fail to turn in timely financial statements, it's the responsibility of the student leaders to shutter the co-ops.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
The sign at the Cafe Che counter seeks to enlist support for the student co-ops at UCSD.
|
Student leaders, however, are reluctant to close them, and administrators say that's why a new agreement is necessary.
The student leaders say the administration is violating the existing agreement, which doesn't expire for two years.
An attorney who has battled the administration on behalf of the co-ops in the past decade, said this is the university's latest attempt to eliminate the co-ops, which are less lucrative for UCSD than commercial businesses.
"This is the third major attempt by the administration to eviscerate the co-ops," said attorney Lottie Cohen of Los Angeles. "The administration wants control and money."
Co-ops have existed on campus for about 30 years and pay below-market rents to the university.
There have been numerous conflicts between UCSD and the co-ops, often stemming from university concerns over security, upkeep and lax financial record-keeping.
At a student-organized news conference yesterday, student leaders and administrators broke into a debate over their interpretations of the lease agreement.
Kris Kohler, president of the Graduate Student Association, said the administration has unilaterally decided the contract and lease agreements have expired.
"The administration's chauvinism is the underlying problem," Kohler said. "We are having terms dictated to us."
Carmen Vazquez, UCSD's assistant vice chancellor for student life, said the university wants to establish personalized lease agreements with each co-op and ensure the university policies are followed.
Some students working at the co-ops yesterday said the university's demands are bureaucratic and could force the co-ops' closures. Co-op members say the university is forcing them to implement costly and time-consuming changes, such as getting prior administrataive approval of all operating expenses.
"It's completely infeasible," said Erik Borowitz, a senior who has worked at the Che Cafe and the Food Co-op for several years. "It takes away the original autonomy and power of the co-ops."
Eleanor Yang: (619) 542-4564; eleanor.yang@uniontrib.com
