  I came to Southampton College 8 years ago, filled with enthusiasm and probably more optimism and ideas than were reasonable. I am a "Let's put on a show and save the old homestead, ala Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney," kind of person. I have always bucked the odds in my professional career, getting my PhD from Virginia Tech at "ahem" a mature age. And I have developed a passion for teaching the students I have had the privilege of teaching over the last 8 years. I looked forward to keep on lighting the fire for critical inquiry under my students for years to come. Thus, what is happening has caused me to grieve along with many others lamenting the demise of what we had. A few years ago, I started doing research in Mondragon, Spain. Fifty years ago, during the repressive Franco regime, a few Basque people, taught by a priest and sociologist, about working together as a community, started a cooperative experiment..
They made little camp stoves. Fifty years later, they are a corporation of cooperatives, making many products sold the world over, and providing many services with sales in the billions of dollars (or Euros now). And the Corporation is still based on the idea that one can have a successful business, with democratic decision making, and without exploiting the lowest paid employees. Under very difficult circumstances, these people committed themselves to principles and ethics that are quite unlike the kind we see in most ventures today and what Franco had in mind for them. They followed a set of principles which included: a) the primacy of work over capital, without diminishing the importance of money, which is an indispensable element. b) equality of all members-giving one vote to each member, while avoiding egalitarianism so that they could allow a differential in wages in a ratio of one to three; (Which has more levels these days, but still a ratio is followed - comment mine) c) supremacy of the General Assembly with solidarity in every thing so that paternalism is avoided; d) money invested in education brings the highest of profits .
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**Taken from "Prologue" by Juan Leibar of Mondragon, page 12 in urlLink From Mondragon To America: Experiments In Community Economic Development , written by Greg MacLeod, 1997; Sydney, Nova Scotia: University College of Cape Breton Press. Faculty have been apprised of the financial problems at Southampton College for a good many years. We followed instructions we were told would help to keep the place going, not without question, but certainly as good employees and dedicated faculty and staff. Direct access to the Board of Trustees is not available, due to some unfortunate situations involving breeches of confidentiality on the part of a few faculty some years ago.
In other words, it is not easy in a traditional institution such as this for everyone to have a say in decisions made, nor are they privy to all the information available regarding said institution. We are led to believe this is the best and only way to ensure a successful enterprise. I started speaking with various people about an idea I have for a college that would be remarkably different in its administration. That idea was developed in my mind during my visits to Mondragon and while researching the community during the last four years. I conducted a travel class there with a few students in 2000. We saw first hand how many of the cooperatives worked and are still working. We were especially impressed by the University and the schools that are run as cooperatives. Being a crazy optimist, I feel it's time to put this idea out in a more public forum.
We are facing a very tough situation. The financial problems LIU has with Southampton College are very real. But, I would like the opportunity to explore an alternative college, one that is based upon the principles of Mondragon Cooperatives. The faculty, staff, administration and students would form the cooperative corporation which would encompass a variety of smaller cooperatives. For example, instead of the College acting as landlords for dormitories, students would "own" their dorm room or dorm apartment.
They would sell them to the incoming students upon graduation or moving into Winter housing. They would be responsible collectively for making sure the rooms and apartments were maintained in good repair, and perhaps rented out to conferences or other events in the area to help pay for the upkeep. The upkeep, in turn, could be purchased, perhaps as a service from a Maintenance Cooperative which sells their services to the Student Dormitory Cooperative. I won't go on and on with details or examples of how this could work, but I would like it if people would consider developing this idea and presenting it to the administration.
I met with the dean and faculty of the Massachusetts School of Law on June 22nd. I had written a blurb for the cover of a book, urlLink Against The Tide by Debbie Hagan, about the formation of that Law School from scratch, designed so working class students could obtain law degrees. It seemed to join both of my interests, working-class and poverty issues with the cooperative model of capitalism.
I made the appointment to meet with them before I heard the news of the relocation of the undergraduate program and possible sale of the land at Southampton College. The luncheon and meeting with MLS certainly took on a different direction. We talked at length about what could be done to save the college without LIU having to carry the burden of the large deficit it has accumulated at SC. I will give you one example of the suggestions these folks had. Run the college as a cooperative for five years, with option to buy at the end of perhaps five years. So, we need to develop ideas and ways that offer alternatives to the ones in place right now. I believe it would be difficult to save a four-year undergraduate college located at the present site by protests alone. There must be a way for LIU to discontinue to burden of SC without the losing the college we love. It might mean separating from LIU so the university can concentrate on maintaining the larger, more urban campuses. I would be happy to discuss this and other ideas people might have at the upcoming meetings. We need a practical plan. For more information on the Mondragon Cooperativa Corporacion, use this URL. urlLink http://www.iisd.org/50comm/commdb/desc/d13.htm Peace, Dr. Barbara J. Peters , Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies **** LIU-Southampton College urlLink Yahoo! E-Group SaveSC 
