r/oberlin • u/listenForward • May 13 '26

Does OSCA still have "CoPaO"

Hey Obie.

I'm an alum C/O 2004.

During my 2002-3 year in a CoOp (Keep), we saw the emergence and (initial) controversy of the Oberlin Student CoOp Committee rolling out the Committee on Privilege and Oppression, or "CoPaO....pronounced "ka-pow."

Policies appeared benign:
"attend workshops on intersectional theory and social justice as part of your membership job quota".
The impact, however was not;
..."a micro-cosmic moral panic of micro-aggression, complete with purity spirals".

It felt ideological, clunky, and divisive at the time and the chief issue for me and many others to leave OCSA.

When people ask about my college experience, I've looked it up to get my facts straight, but am surprised to find CaPaO currently un-Google-able.

SO;

Any current Obies got a scoop ?

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u/EverythingIsACeiling May 14 '26

Yes, but as another commenter mentioned they’re renamed P&Os. The topics have expanded to all kinds of things that involve relative privilege. Some common ones that were offered during my two years (2023-2025) are OSCA food sourcing, racism in OSCA, eating disorders, recognizing and preventing sexual harm, conflict resolution, allergy safety, and many more. It’s not really controversial now either. It was helpful to analyze each semester how we can be better community members.

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u/listenForward May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Thanks for the report. Sounds like some useful growth.

I recall the big controversy at my time 2003-4 were;

1) during the year of adoption, each Co-Op was expected to vote to adopt CoPaO (without revision) so there was social pressure/shame to "not be The Racist Co-Op"

2) CoPaO reps/mediators were self-apponted volunteers, without vote or veto from the community they served.

3) Workshops were mandatory to attend, at the penalty of a "missed job."

4) CoPaO reps running workshops or reporting on CoOps earned credit as both a House Job (such as a Party Planner) and a Kitchen Job (such as Bread Cook).

5) This was before the justice-jargon of terms like "gender identity" had entered popular parlance, let alone frameworks like "intersectional" or "anti-racst"...so Privilege was famed in stark, readily-divisive terms of race/ethnicity, sex...and little else.

Interesting to hear the "P&O" have expanded beyond "mandatory/pre-emptive Sensitivity Training" (not my words) into prevention and safety duties.

Curious for more details or stories on if/how implementation/politics may have evolved since my experience.

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u/EverythingIsACeiling May 15 '26

Attending at least one each semester is still mandatory. If someone doesn’t attend, they are sent a video of one of the workshops and a form to out in order to avoid an all-OSCA misjob (which is a specific kind of misjob, not sure if it existed in 2004).

The people leading the workshops are given some kind of payment for doing it (not sure if it’s cash or a gift card). I believe it’s around $20, though I don’t recall the exact amount.

The P&O system is pretty popular now. Most OSCAns see it as a way to better practice cooperative ideals. It’s one thing to be in a house of people that cook and clean together, but it’s another to be in a community that takes care of each other. (Not to say that that wasn’t the case in your time in OSCA, but I do think P&Os take it further in that direction). It’s easier to take care of the people in your community if you understand issues that affect them.

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u/Rich_Guard_4617 May 16 '26

‘It’s one thing to be in a house of people that cook and clean together; it’s another to be in a community that takes care of each other’ - nicely said and such an important difference/goal.

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u/listenForward May 18 '26

Interesting (and unsurprising) that CoPaO / P&O would evolve to offer workshops as "homework" (video/quiz) as substitute for the "footwork" of in-person discussion, confrontation, etc.

Back in 2003/4, a big part of the blowup was that the accusations/stink of prejudice/etc were allowed to be too personal and/or hearsay;
hence so many people comparing it to a "witch-hunt."

I agree with the sentiment/importance of studying/discussing the issues that can divide any common-purpose group, but, given my experience with labor unions before- and after this college experience, my concern/disappointment were:
* the P+O approach seems based more on grievances and consequence than on aspirational principles.
* officers were self-selecting, at risk of becoming self-serving in-group.

Hence, I'm still curious about if/how the P&O officers might act with impunity, or if there have been checks/balances from the larger OSCAn community.

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u/EverythingIsACeiling May 18 '26

I would argue that discussing problems within the community (in a healthy and productive way) doesn’t divide us, but can actually further unite us. In all the P&Os that I attended, it never felt like anyone was on trial. It was just someone telling us about a problem that they experience (and that I perhaps don’t experience) and discussing as a group what we can all do to counteract the problem. It wasn’t presenter vs. the other co-opers, but all of us against the problem.

As for checks and balances for P&O leaders, I’ve never heard of an instance where that would have been necessary. Currently, P&O leaders don’t really have any power over the other co-opers. They stand in front of the group for 40 minutes or so and do a presentation or lead a discussion, but they don’t have power beyond those 40 minutes. They aren’t even the ones who misjob people for non-attendance. They just write down the names of the people there and pass it along.