Two years ago, a group of individuals formed a community with a simple goal: to live and cook together. Now, that community is looking to change its home, while still maintaining that mission.
Cooking House, which is currently located in Olney House, expects to lose its official status as a program house because of an insufficient number of returning members. The house, created two years ago, had 22 original members, but its membership has since dwindled to just four who plan to return next year.
The criteria for program houses are set by the Residential Council. According to ResCouncil's Web site, program houses are required to return a minimum of five in-house members each year. Other guidelines include sponsoring two on-campus events and two community service events per semester and maintaining a minimum of 22 or maximum of 30 members.
Cooking House fell just short of the minimum membership this year, drawing 20 residents, but was allowed to retain its status.
The four returning Cooking House members, along with nine other interested students, are making plans to take the house from a purely residential program to a University-recognized club with some dedicated members who opt to enter the housing lottery together.
Christine Sunu '09, one of the original founders of Cooking House, said there had been some interest in forming a club to complement the house because "a lot of people were interested in participating in our activities but already had living arrangements planned."
Sunu said she believed the change from a program house to a club would be a positive one.
Another member of the house, Jason Leung '09, also said he is optimistic about the change.
"I really like the idea of a club. The program house was a good start, but the club will offer more opportunities," Leung said.
Leung said the time spent organizing community service events such as "Pie vs. Poverty," a charity bake sale Cooking House held last year, might now be allotted to other "community-building events." Some of his ideas for these events include forming bonds with local restaurants and setting up cooking classes with professional chefs from the area.
Leung, Sunu and the other members held an information session Monday night to discuss plans for dealing the loss of a designated living space.
"We are looking for housing that is conducive to building a community around cooking," Sunu said. Two locations being considered are Slater Hall and Plantations House.
She said that one reason for the change was that the current location of the program house was not "ideal for carrying out their mission."
"Living on Wriston is kind of like living in New York. There can be a lot of noise and a lot of things going on at any time. People who are interested in being part of the house may not necessarily be interested in living on Wriston," she said.
Besides complaints about noise, Sunu said the distance between living space and the kitchen was an issue. The Olney House kitchen is in the basement, and Cooking House members live on the third floor.
The house's current location in Olney was necessary because all program houses must be in handicap-accessible buildings, said ResCouncil Chair Alexander Dean '08.
Dean said Cooking House leaders had informally approached the council earlier in the semester for advice, after realizing they would not be able to meet all of the program house guidelines.
"Returning members are a really important part of (recently created) program houses," Dean said, citing a lack of continuity as the reason for the demise of Games House two years ago.
So far, ResCouncil has not discussed whether they will be re-evaluating program houses this semester. Its last program house reassessment took place in November.
