Henderson House, a co-op for the cooperative

What comes to mind when you think of a co-op? Tofu? Mason jars? Red Solo cups in peculiar locations? During my visit to the wholesome Henderson House Co-op, however, there wasn’t Mason jar or Solo cup in sight. Maybe there was some tofu in the fridge, but I didn’t check.

Despite the large number of residents, the house was almost completely quiet when I visited last semester, probably due to the fact that it was right around the end of finals week.

I chatted with the Henderson House Resident Director and Ross School of Business senior Kathryn Yaros, whose principal duties include managing the house and keeping the community happy and civil. Instead of house ragers and bar-hopping excursions, Henderson women have an annual barbeque with University alums. They eat a Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by hand-painted turkeys. They attend G-Men a cappella shows and gaze together at holiday lights. The women of Henderson are mature and refined — although if they do come stumbling back tipsy and high heel-less to the house at 3 a.m., Yaros expressed one wish.

“Just please, please, please don’t forget your keys.”

And then there are “crafternoons” — a house activity as cutesy as the name. Yaros described these as relaxing afternoons during which the residents, well, craft.

While twee-haters may scoff at the idea of crafternoons, the Henderson tradition of “swells” is something to make even the harshest skeptic utter an involuntary “aww.”

Swells, Yaros said, are little notes the girls stick in a designated shoebox. They are read aloud at the co-op’s weekly meeting and allow the women to share with each other why every girl in the house is the best person ever.

If your heart doesn’t melt at the idea of getting a sticky note telling you you’re the best dinner cook replacement a girl could ask for, there’s another incentive for participating in swell culture — give a swell and you’re entered into a gift card raffle.

While there’s a definite community aspect to life at Henderson, the girls aren’t into the idea of communal filth. Like Inter Cooperative Council co-ops (Ann Arbor living communities run by the residents who live in them), each member must perform a total of five hours of chores per week — including cooking dinner, cleaning rooms in the house or even cleaning the Internet (essentially, going through software and doing other computer-related tasks that probably wouldn’t have made much sense if Yaros had tried explaining them to me). Unlike most ICC co-ops, though, makeup work — called “odd jobs” at Henderson — is double the amount of time as the original assigned job.

Perhaps this is why I was a little bit terrified when I realized I forgot to take off my shoes upon entering Henderson. The house was kind of immaculate. For being built in 1892, it seemed remarkably un-rickety and is even being renovated this summer (oh, the benefits of University money). But house cleanliness and attention to detail when cleaning are key — I noticed one of the task lists in the rooms included fluffing the pillows. I’m pretty sure if you fluffed a living room pillow at my co-op, the skin cells of long-dead hippies would puff out in an asthma-inducing dust cloud.

LSA senior Chloe Davenport, a Henderson House resident, emphasized the communal benefits of chores.

“If a person doesn’t want to do chores or isn’t respecting of the space, then maybe living in a co-op isn’t right for that person,” Davenport said. “It’s really important to be able to respect others and the places you’re living in.”

So is this what makes Henderson specifically Solo cup-free? For the record, I did see some shot glasses, but they were clean and neatly arranged. Maybe it was due to the house’s explicit banning of alcohol in common areas, or the strict enforcement of rules and chores. Maybe it’s because it’s all-female. Or maybe Henderson just attracts a certain type of person.

I was interested, then, in comparing Henderson to the co-op I consider to have the most squeaky-clean reputation in the ICC, Gregory House — an entirely substance-free living environment.

I spoke to current Gregory resident and Rackham student Rocky Fischer. Like Davenport, he basically adores his co-op.

Fischer described Gregory as a fully-functioning and overall neat place to live. Like at Henderson, there is definitely a community aspect, but it can vary based on differences in residents’ ages as well as the academic term. House social events, while not terribly important, include the occasional picnic in the Arb.

Fischer said he appreciated the substance-free policy and partially attributed that to the house cleanliness. Maybe Henderson isn’t the only co-op that has responsible people who will do their work.

“In general, things work,” Fischer said. “On a regular basis, yeah, people do their job.”

Because the co-op is owned by the University, living in Henderson has its perks. While touring the rooms of the house, I saw, to name a few amenities, a fairly gimungous television, a grand piano and an entire computer lab, complete with printers.

Of course, the luxuries of Henderson are not quite available to everyone — meaning men. In fact, any male visitor must be escorted by a resident until the girls are comfortable with him.

And should a man lucky enough to gain the freedom to roam Henderson have to use the restroom or shower, it’s downstairs to the basement he goes, where there’s the slightly sad boys’ bathroom (think “the chokey” from “Matilda” but without the rusty nails).

If you are the proud owner of two X chromosomes and want to live in Henderson, there is another catch — the house must want you. Potential residents must participate in an interview with the RD and must complete an application. I went through the interview process with Yaros, slightly expecting to be judged and belittled. But in actuality, it was painless. The questions centered mostly on themes you’d associate with Henderson House — responsibility, respect, community and cleanliness. Henderson House isn’t for everyone, and the interviews are meant to weed out the girls who would probably be miserable living there anyway.

“We continue to develop our interview format,” Yaros said. “That way we can find girls who want cooperative community — who want to contribute.”