Alejandro Leyva: [00:00:00] This episode of Berkeley Brainwaves was filmed in front of a live studio audience.
(audience applause)
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Whoa, guys. Sorry I’m late. My, my roommates were taking so long in the bathroom. It was insane!
Alejandro Leyva: Jesus, Stella. How many roommates do you have?
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Well, it’s a one bedroom and close to campus. But, in order to make it affordable, I have seven roommates and we take turns sleeping in the beds.
(audience laughter)
Isabelle Risha: Wait, so where do you sleep otherwise?
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Okay, well there’s two people in the bed, one person on the futon, one person on the kitchen couch. Another person splits the cat tower with the cat, and we have a two person hammock that hangs from the reinforcement beams in the kitchen.
Alejandro Leyva: Okay, that can’t be the only way to live.
Why don’t you just move out?
Isabelle Risha: Well actually, Alejandro, the cost of living in Berkeley is 63% above the national average, and the average rent is around $3,700. The housing crisis here is no joke!
(audience laughter)
(Full House theme song parody) [00:01:00]
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: (singing) Whatever happened to affordability,
Alejandro Leyva: (singing) one bedroom, 700,
Isabelle Risha: (singing) in-unit laundry!.
Alejandro Leyva: (singing) Everywhere you look,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: (singing) everywhere you go,
Isabelle Risha: (singing) there’s a house !
All: (singing) A landlord to exploit you!
Alejandro Leyva: (singing) Everywhere you look,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: (singing) everywhere you go,
Isabelle Risha: (singing) there’s a bill!
All: (singing) PG&E is overdue. Everywhere you look
Isabelle Risha: (singing) when you’re lost out there and you’re all alone 51B is waiting to carry you home!
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Everywhere you look.
(theme song instrumental) [00:02:00]
Isabelle Risha: You are listening to KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM, University of California Freeform Community Radio. This is Berkeley Brainwaves, a 30- minute public affairs show exploring all things Berkeley. And today we’re discussing the Berkeley Housing Crisis and different options for student housing. I’m here with Hayden Kelly, a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, or Pike, who lives in the frat house.
Hayden, thanks for being here.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah, of course. Excited to be on the show.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah, of course. Um, okay, so could you just start off with giving listeners a little bit of a background on Greek life housing and like maybe specifically fraternity housing for those who don’t really know much about how that would work?
Hayden Kelly: Mm-hmm. So I was a bit of a unique case, I guess you could say. I wasn’t planning initially on rushing a fraternity. But I lived in Clark Kerr, and if any of you guys know, like Clark Kerr has a lot of Greek life people, and those were like the majority [00:03:00] of the friends that I had made. So when kind of asking around like, oh, for an apartment, or what should I do? All my friends had kind of like already been like, oh, well I’m just gonna live in my fraternity house or my sorority house, et cetera.
So I was like. Well, I can’t get an apartment. I can’t, I definitely can’t finance a whole apartment by myself.
Isabelle Risha: Mm-hmm.
Hayden Kelly: Um, and I didn’t wanna live with people that I didn’t know or like, kind of, you know, crazy stories that you’ll hear from that.
So I was just like, okay, well I’ll try out a fraternity, you know, maybe I’ll make a community and it’ll be fun. So I decided on rushing in the spring. With the promise that I would get housing for the next year, and then that’s kind of what I ended up doing. Um, I like went through kind of the process to join throughout the spring semester.
And then I moved in my fall semester and then I’m currently living there now in spring, sophomore year. And I think I’ll continue to live there until junior year.
Isabelle Risha: Okay. Cool. So, so you said that. You joined the fraternity on the promise or like with [00:04:00] knowing that you would be able to live there the following fall?
Hayden Kelly: Yes.
Isabelle Risha: Is it like a competitive process or are there like limited spots and like maybe people are fighting over rooms? Was there any of that in your experience?
Hayden Kelly: Uh, basically you get like a room pick based on like solely, at least for us, it’s solely on the job that you have. So president gets first pick, then it goes down in line from to vice president, then treasurer.
Then ev- like, uh, oh, there’s two vice presidents and then social chairs, um, new member, like educators. Um,
Isabelle Risha: wow.
Hayden Kelly: I’m trying to think. And then there’s like other roles and then it kind of just descends down from there. So you get to pick your room and you get like your points allocated for that.
Isabelle Risha: Okay.
Hayden Kelly: But everyone pays a base rate.
So I mean, I can, I can tell like basically how much I pay. Um, it’s 770 a sem-, no, 770 a month just for living in. And then an additional like, couple hundred for food and then for dues, which is not like very [00:05:00] much like, and Pike is very close to campus and I feel like a lot of the other Greek houses are too.
It’s like honestly the best deal that you’ll get. Um, and if you work a job, you can get like a single room. So a single room for 700 bucks, like. That’s pretty much unheard of.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah. That is really unheard of. I know there are a lot of stereotypes.
Hayden Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Isabelle Risha: About, I mean, Greek life frats in general, but specifically, living in a frat house, the experience of that, I mean, frats are known for hosting parties. Are those stereotypes true or have they been true for you?
Hayden Kelly: Mm-hmm. Um. I would say yes.
It’s really fun is how I would kind of put it like you’re living with, I personally like lived with, um, all the people that were in my like new member kind of class.
So it was all of like my really close friends. It was four of us in kind of like a smaller room, but it’s kind of like the fun of it almost.
Um. There was like certain things, like if we would have an event on a Thursday and I had a final on Friday, it was kind of just like, well, the event is in your room [00:06:00] and in your house, so it’s like you can’t like get out of it. You can’t really like tell people to leave your room. It’s kind of just like, like you don’t necessarily have a lot of agency in, um, like if there’s things going on in the house where people are coming in your room, it’s just like, but it is really fun. So it’s kind of like pros and cons. Is that like you’re never bored.
Like I feel like I never get home and I’m like, (sigh) like what now? It’s like there’s always something going on. You can always go into other people’s rooms, you’re friends with, like everyone that you live with. It’s like if you live in a big like apartment building and you can go into any single room possible and like just hang out with people.
But it’s like the downside is that people come into your room and want to hang out with you and like do things and it’s just like, well I wanna go to bed and I have a final tomorrow. Or I’m sick. Yeah. Or like et cetera. And it’s just like, so yeah. Um, that’s kind of, how I would like describe it and my experience.
And now I live in a little bit of a bigger room and I think spring semester a lot of people leave for abroad, so the house is just kind of like less active. But yeah, definitely living in [00:07:00] a frat house is not for, not for the weak. And if you kind of like a lot of like choice in like your environment and kind of like the noise and et cetera, then it’s definitely a kind of a tough, um, ex- environment.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah. You have to make sure you’re like, ready for the type of Yeah, environment.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah. The type of like rowdiness, I mean, it is like, yeah, it is kind of like a frat house at the end of the day, you know?.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, of course. And, I feel like that’s also kind of, I don’t know, maybe a, a secret pro to living in somewhere like a frat house. Like do you feel like you’ve gotten to know, like, okay, you said night before a final. Do you feel like you’ve gotten to know maybe like other spaces on campus or like libraries or like
Hayden Kelly: Yeah.
Isabelle Risha: Has it helped you, I guess, get out of your comfort zone in a way with those kind of things?
Hayden Kelly: Yeah, I would say for sure. And also just like. Um, going over to like my friend’s, like sorority houses. ’cause it’s like you, I feel like just being in a frat house, you make those like sorority connections and the sororities are actually like [00:08:00] 10 times nicer. (laughter)
Um, usually and they have like their own study rooms, so I’ll just go study with my friends or like, it’ll be like, oh, let’s all go to the library together.
Let’s all like meet, you know, at Doe or um, whatever. So, so yeah, it’s kind of like, you know, you’re kind of like living through that like similar experience. Um, but yeah, it’s just like there’s no, I remember my first last semester, I didn’t have a desk in my room, but I had two couches and a tv, so priorities.
Um, but yeah, I mean, yeah, you just kind of find spaces.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah.
Hayden Kelly: To do it. You make it work.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, that’s kind of a similar challenge that you face when you’re living in a dorm.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah.
Isabelle Risha: Kind of finding those like third spaces, study spaces, like quiet spaces. Yeah. A lot of times, and I think something about Berkeley specifically that I realized is it’s rarely quiet.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah.
Isabelle Risha: That can be a pro, and for a lot of people it is. But I think, you know, when you’re in this huge campus that’s super crowded all day, and especially it’s been raining [00:09:00] recently. And on the rainy days, you try to find a seat inside somewhere and it’s packed. So I think I can definitely see where the need for like a little more maybe control over your environment.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah.
Isabelle Risha: Comes in. Especially like if all day you’ve been going to class in this super like hyperactive environment.
Hayden Kelly: Yeah. And then you come home and it’s like your house is the party.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah.
Hayden Kelly: Oh!
Isabelle Risha: Which, yeah.
Hayden Kelly: Um, but yeah.
Isabelle Risha: One of my last questions for you is kind of, I don’t know, you talked a little bit about when you were a freshman you were, trying to make this decision about where to live next year. And I think that can be a little daunting, especially cause you kind of just adjusted to this, to this new place, and maybe you just made these new friends and it can be a little nerve- wracking to decide to live with them or to decide what your next step is gonna be.
Hayden Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Isabelle Risha: So I guess, do you have any advice to freshmen right now who are looking for housing or maybe the freshmen of, you know, future fall semesters who are looking? [00:10:00] Um, into their future housing prospects. Do you have any, I guess, recommendations or things that you would do differently, whether that’s relating to Greek life or not?
Hayden Kelly: Mm-hmm. Definitely. I would say definitely ask around, um, and just kind of see like what options you have. ’cause I just, I think I like just closed myself off so quickly. I was just like, well, I’m just gonna do this and, you know, and it was just the easiest solution. ’cause honestly, well also another thing I think particularly when it comes to guys living, like, I know the co-ops aren’t like, necessarily as nice and like certain, like living, I don’t know. Um,
Isabelle Risha: that makes a lot of sense.
Hayden Kelly: You know?
Isabelle Risha: Yeah.
Hayden Kelly: It’s like, and a lot of times, like girls are only looking for like, you know. Female, like identifying roommates, which is totally obviously like totally, um, understandable.
But it’s just like harder ’cause it’s like, and then obviously my, like all my girlfriends are living in their sorority houses, so it’s like, what? You know, what’s left?
Isabelle Risha: Hmm.
Hayden Kelly: So that kind of, I think also additionally like, pushed me to join the fraternity, you know? Yeah.[00:11:00]
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Right now I am here with a Cal student who is a fourth year who is gonna talk to us about her experience, um, being a, a, a person looking for housing in Berkeley. Thanks for being with us here today.
Anonymous Guest: Thank you. Hi guys. So basically, most of my years went fine. I mean, very relaxed, landlords didn’t have much, um, didn’t provide much help when I needed it, but also never like got in trouble or anything.
However, my junior year I had a bit of an issue with the landlord. So basically the apartment above us was like having a leak or something and it caused about a fourth of our kitchen ceiling to, um, leak water. And then the whole ceiling got torn out by maintenance. But it was never replaced. Basically just a trash bag was put over it and buckets were put on the ground.
So I had [00:12:00] to deal with this for about three or four months, and no matter how many times we contacted the landlord, he just kept deferring, “it’s the floor above you issue.” Well, even if that’s the case, this is unlivable conditions. Um, so finally one of my roommates had to contact the. I don’t really know what it was.
It was some like government official to deem the place unlivable and then through that we had to have a case against the landlord that would result in like reduced rent, if rent at all, because the conditions were deemed unlivable. The issue is we ended up not following through with any of that because it was a lot of work, especially with a landlord who just doesn’t answer the phone, doesn’t respond, anything like that. So we ended up still paying full price for this.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Okay. I have so many follow up questions to that. (laughter) Um. So, okay, first [00:13:00] question was this, was this some sort of like landlord agency that, you know, owns multiple apartments or was this just a person who owned the, do you have any idea?
Anonymous Guest: So this landlord, he was like an older couple and I think the biggest issue was that the family, it was becoming family- run. So like he was trying to have his daughters run it, but he wouldn’t let them do anything or take any initiative.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Um, and did you know what? What was leaking? Like what liquid, what it was?
Anonymous Guest: No, we don’t, uh, we don’t know what the liquid that was leaking. We assumed it was from like the kitchen area upstairs or from the bathroom area upstairs. And they just, the landlord kept saying there is a large overflow, um,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Overflow of… no specifics.
Anonymous Guest: No specifics.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Did it smell like nasty, disgusting? Was it like hella gross?
Anonymous Guest: It didn’t smell bad, but the biggest concern we had is that once, the like ceiling was removed and you could see up into like the [00:14:00] rafter area, you could see mold. And that was part of the reason, I mean, not only could we not use most of our kitchen, but it was also possibly like dangerous to our health.
And I think that’s really what pushed it to like unlivable conditions.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: And so that’s after they sort of took the ceiling out?
Anonymous Guest: Yeah. So basically they took the ceiling out to try to find a problem. I don’t know if they ever actually found the problem, but they didn’t fix it.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: It wasn’t like there was like a hole between you and the unit above you, and you guys could like wave to each other.
Anonymous Guest: Um, no, it was like, it
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: was just like drywall?
Anonymous Guest: They, the, they took the, yeah, they took like the drywall off and now you could just see like the floorboards. Or like,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: and they just left it like that. Is that as if that like something better was gonna happen?
Anonymous Guest: Every about two weeks, a maintenance man would come and replace the garbage bag covering this makeshift hole
(Stella’s laughter)
Anonymous Guest: hole, and then like maybe empty out the baskets that were holding the water.
So I don’t know the specifics [00:15:00] of like who they contacted in the government or anything, but basically my roommate, his parents were pretty like, involved in his life and when they heard about it, they were the ones that was like. Hey, you should see if you can get a rent reduction because the landlord isn’t fixing a maintenance issue.
That’s how it started, like very low grade. And then when we actually had the government professional come in, that’s when they were like, this is actually an unlivable condition.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Wait, that’s kind of awesome that you got that all to happen also W parents for getting
Anonymous Guest: Yeah, right?
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Seriously.
The fact that you were paying full price.
In fact, you were paying any amount of money to live in like a mold-leaked place is
Anonymous Guest: well, my room, my first single room was $1,500.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Oh!
Anonymous Guest: For? For something. We had no washing machine, no dishwash- or no laundry machine, or no dishwasher. And now our kitchen didn’t even work and [00:16:00] I’m still paying this much.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Wow, wow, wow. That is crazy. And your landlord just didn’t answer the phone ever.
Anonymous Guest: No. And the best thing you could do was email the daughter, and the daughter will be like, I’ll talk to my dad about it. But that got us nowhere.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Dang. Okay.
Anonymous Guest: The other thing is they were having tours before the roof, um, broke, and then we don’t know if someone moved in after
it would be nice if it wasn’t like all on us.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Totally.
Anonymous Guest: Like once we showed it to the government, they would be like, okay, now he has debt.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Totally.
Anonymous Guest: Because if I, we wouldn’t have paid rent, we would’ve been in trouble. Yeah. But him not paying us back for something we deemed unlivable.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: I mean, it really does seem to be a failure of like, I mean so many things, but like once the government is involved and knows about it, not taking any further steps to like aid, you know, college students.
[00:17:00] In the effort to, I don’t know, be given the basic like respect and decency of like a livable home situation with shelter and all that. Like it, I mean, it is illegal. It’s illegal, and I guess, um, they don’t care. So I’m really sorry. That must have been so hard. Was it so stressful?
Anonymous Guest: Um, it wasn’t stressful, but it definitely made my home not feel like a safe place anymore.
Yeah. I just wouldn’t want to go and cook a nice meal for me or my friends. I just wanna be out of the home so much, which I think is really sad.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: So like, how did you use the kitchen? Like what, what was the situation in there? Like, could you use it?
Anonymous Guest: Um,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: it was like kind of wet in there, like what was the situation?
Anonymous Guest: Yeah, it was kinda wet. You would have to like, look, you would have to like. Do an obstacle course to get to the fridge. Oh wow. And once you got in the fridge, you’d open the door and just hope and pray. No liquid came down when the door was open. Um, but the good news is the stove was on the other [00:18:00] side of the kitchen, so that was okay.
And the sink was like far enough away from the leak, so it pretty much just made like a lot of cupboards and the floor space up to the fridge. unusable or like slippery. One of my roommates even did slip.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: No way.
Anonymous Guest: Yeah. Yeah. So.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Oh my God.
Anonymous Guest: Yeah. I’ve also noticed a, with my second landlord, I had no, like direct deposit.
Like we’re still having to do physical checkbooks.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Wait, really?
Anonymous Guest: Yeah. The, the first landlord actually was that same way. We would have to have an envelope
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Whoa.
Anonymous Guest: With a physical check written out on it. And I just thought, I thought that was absurd.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Yeah. That’s kind of honestly scary. ’cause what if like, it’s lost?
Anonymous Guest: I know and having to mail that amount of money.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Yeah. That’s scary.
Anonymous Guest: I don’t even own a checkbook,
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: right?
Anonymous Guest: I had to just take my dad’s checkbook and I had him sign everything and then write down my rent each month, because [00:19:00] how am I supposed to get a checkbook?
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Totally, totally. Oh,
Anonymous Guest: I also just think it’s really confusing how that happens.
If you have a co-signer paying for the lease, then you are expected to be able to check every month. Like it just, I know it works somehow, but, it’s not conducive for college students at all.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Totally, totally. It doesn’t seem like any of the system is like at all trying to be useful or, you know, beneficial to college students in any way.
In fact, the opposite. Um, dang, that’s crazy. Well, I hope your situation has improved since then. Um, and I also hope that, yeah, that landlord is not. Um, exploiting tenants anymore, but who knows. Okay. Well, thanks so much for, for being here and for talking to us about your experience.
Anonymous Guest: Yes. Thank you for having me.
Alejandro Leyva: Another popular [00:20:00] off-campus housing option after freshman year is the co-ops. I am here with a resident of the co-ops Micah.
Micah Green: Thanks for having me.
Alejandro Leyva: Yeah. Uh, what year are you?
Micah Green: I’m a sophomore.
Alejandro Leyva: So you’ve been in the co-ops for like nine months, give or take?
Micah Green: Um, yeah. I was in it for all of last semester and then I, I left for winter break and have come back for the semester.
Stayed in the same house, so maybe closer to six months, or so
Alejandro Leyva: Ok, yeah. What was the biggest driver to the co-ops for you?
Micah Green: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I found out about the co-ops more in depth. I’d heard of them before, but I kind of discovered them through, um, a friend of mine who I actually met through KALX, who lived in one of them, and hosted a, uh, biweekly Shabbat dinner at their co-op.
And so I [00:21:00] went to that and as I went to that more and more and saw, the house saw the community that was within the house, I became interested in it. Especially because I, in my first year I, something that I really wanted in my living space specifically was community and that’s not something I felt I had in my freshman year.
Alejandro Leyva: Are there any like extra events that the co-ops kind of do to encourage bonding?
Micah Green: Yeah. Um, within my co-op at least, uh, we do a lot of movie nights. We’ve done a wine and cheese night. Uh, we do like birthday celebrations. Um, and then between different houses, there are events. Um, there are, you know, parties that houses will host, but there’s also, um, a soccer, I mean, just yesterday there was a soccer tournament between all the houses, which I [00:22:00] participated in and really enjoyed.
Alejandro Leyva: Is there anything that. Made you choose the co-ops over going into like a fraternity or was that just like never in the cards for you?
Micah Green: Um, I, I considered joining a fraternity when I first got to Berkeley.
Um, and it was kind of a question of convenience where I think the day that, like the first event was, uh, for the fraternity I was thinking about joining was like the first day that I got super homesick and I was just like, I have no energy to go and, you know, meet all these different guys and try to, you know, network, play the game of like trying to get a bid and everything.
I think the co-ops to me, and as someone who’s never been in a frat, only knows this from afar and from hearing accounts, seem a lot less hierarchical. I think, you know, it’s within the name, it’s cooperative, right?
We have managers, we have people in leadership positions, but overall, I think it is a community where it’s like there’s [00:23:00] no, power dynamic of like hazing or rushing, at least within my house. I’ve heard reports of the other houses having, not hazing, but like having more of an initiation process. Um, that’s something I really like, that it doesn’t feel like you’re, having to do anything to join. There’s no like barrier to entry where the people who wanna make sure like you can qualify.
It is something that anyone is welcome to do. It’s unlike a frat where you have to like get a bid. It’s the co-ops are first come, first serve.
Alejandro Leyva: Nice. Give us a picture of what the space looks like. If you can, if you can kind of describe what your living space looks like, what the common areas look like, what the dining area looks like.
Micah Green: Yeah, absolutely. So I live in Euclid Hall, which is one of the smaller co-ops. Um, so this will not necessarily be reflective of all of them, but so for us, it’s basically, we have kind of the bottom floor, which we have a study room slash living [00:24:00] room, which has tables for studying, has our, house computer, has a tv, has a pool table, has a library and board games, and it’s kind of, and then across from that is the dining room and kitchen.
And then we have two floors of rooms. Uh, I believe there’s 16 or 17 rooms within our house. Uh, 23 people total.
Alejandro Leyva: So you mentioned like the cook shifts and that’s like a really big part of the co-op, everyone pitching in, doing work together, what type of shifts are available? Which ones do you usually do?
How does that workload add up on top of like a busy academic load?
Micah Green: Yeah, definitely. That’s, um, that’s something I know from people is kind of one of the biggest, uh, points of concern about moving into the co-ops is, oh, am I gonna have to do all this work? It’s five hours of work shifts a week is the policy, and then that can either be fulfilled through, uh, cook [00:25:00] shift through or through cleaning.
Um, within our house we have, um, sweeping and mopping the floor after dinner. We have, uh, dining room, cleaning also after dinner, uh, pots and dishes, uh, bathroom clean. And then additionally, another way you can fulfill ours is by being a manager. So I am the network manager of Euclid, which means I am in charge of generally the wifi, but additionally kind of all things electronic, uh, that house computer, the printer, uh, the tv because of. That I get two hours a week from that, um, through my duties, which involve like performing repairs if the wifi goes down or if someone can’t figure out something with the printer, helping them with that.
I’m someone who appreciates a clean space. I’m an organized person generally, so for me, how I always think of it is like, this is work [00:26:00] I’m gonna have to do eventually or in general, if I were to live in an apartment, right?
Like if I’m living in an apartment and I’m cooking. I’m gonna have to do the dishes. I’m gonna have to sweep and mop. If I don’t want a ton of dust buildup, I might have to clean the bathrooms if they get pretty gross. To me, it is more work because you’re doing it in a bigger space, but it’s the same things you’d be doing anyway.
And in return, you’re also, you don’t have to do everything.
Alejandro Leyva: Berkeley co-ops are a pretty big system. From your point of view, I mean, as network manager, but maybe just even as a resident. What is the interaction between like one house and this like central body?
Micah Green: In terms of specifically for my role as network manager, most of my interactions with Central are in procuring things for the house.
Basically putting in a request saying I want it, get this computer, I want to, you know, get this additional tool for our, for our wifi.
Alejandro Leyva: Right. [00:27:00]
Micah Green: Um, and then they approve that or don’t approve it. And if they approve it, they send it to me and I can get it set up. That’s something Central does a lot. Like, like I said, I mentioned for food, for, uh, supplies we might need, uh, if a different manager, I don’t have to do this too often, if a different manager is buying something for the house, like that’s something that’s done through Central where they will get like reimbursed.
Alejandro Leyva: Before we go, I have two last questions. Uh, the first one is what has been, if you can think of one moment, one event, one like amazing meal. What’s been the highlight of your time in the co-ops?
Micah Green: This might be a, a, just a Euclid house tradition, but every semester at the end we do a special dinner where we get a bunch of takeout, um, a bunch of good food and desserts and drinks and everything, and everyone like dresses up and there’s sometimes [00:28:00] there’s a theme.
Most of the people in the house will come. It’ll be very well attended. And it’s basically like a big party. We did, did some just dance, we played some Wii sports, we played some pool.
Alejandro Leyva: Awesome. And my final question, if someone’s listening right now in the intrigued by the idea of a co-op, what piece of advice would you give them?
Micah Green: I would say number one thing that comes to mind, uh, is do your research. Get a tour. A lot of the houses offer for tours. Meet people within the houses try to kind of get a vibe.
Alejandro Leyva: Nice. Alright. Thank you so much. That was Micah speaking about his experience with the Berkeley co-ops. You are listening to Berkeley Brainwaves on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM.
(sentimental music)
Alejandro Leyva: Hey, Stella, if I’ve learned anything from this episode, [00:29:00] I think that if you have a problem with your roommates, you should really speak up. It’s important to communicate and advocate for yourself.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Does that mean you think I should tell Sarah she should remember to flush the toilet? I mean, she’s been getting better, but once a week still isn’t gonna cut it.
Isabelle Risha: Yeah, you should definitely say something. We’re here for you.
Stella Robinson-Rosendorff: Aw, thanks guys. Does that mean I can move in with you?
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Isabelle Risha: (talking over each other) oh, I mean, we’re, I don’t,
Alejandro Leyva: I’m going abroad, I
Isabelle Risha: I mean, me too. It kind of.
Alejandro Leyva: I don’t have a lot of space and it’s like, it’s not like,
Isabelle Risha: I mean, I love you and the show is so fun, but [00:30:00] like-
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