What? I know how to cook?!

Love lost on East Campus?

BY CARA PESEK | Lincoln Journal Star

Michaela Mueller learned how to cook in Love Memorial Hall.

She and other residents of the women’s co-op at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln took turns planning meals and shopping for groceries and cleaning the East Campus building that, at times, has been home for as many as 45 women.

During the two years she lived in Love Hall, Mueller learned a lot of what she called “life skills.” And she met some women she thinks will be life friends, too.

“There was just a great sense of community there,” she said. “It made the campus feel a lot smaller.”

But lately, the number of women living in Love Hall has gotten smaller.

When Megan McGhee, a UNL senior and Love’s current hall president, was a freshman, she was one of 38 women living in the house.

This year, she said, she’s one of just 18.

So it was no surprise when UNL Housing Director Doug Zatechka called a meeting to discuss the future of the hall.

What was surprising, McGhee said, was when Zatechka told Love residents and alumni during the Tuesday night meeting that the hall would likely close in May.

“I never really sat down and thought about the hall and how long it would be open,” McGhee said. “I just always thought it would be there.”

This year, Zatechka said, it will cost UNL, which owns the building, between $45,000 and $50,000 to keep Love Memorial Hall open.

The number of women living in Love has declined over the past decade, he said, and only five or so of Love’s current residents plan to return next fall. As the number of students living there has dropped, so too has the amount of money paid in room and board. The past few years, the university has had to pick up the slack, he said.

Occasionally, he said, the number of women living in the hall has increased slightly, only to fall again the next year.

“It looks like the the Dow Jones Industrial Average, only going down instead of up,” he said.

And this year, as his department scrambles to come up with a projected $800,000 to cover increased energy costs, Zatechka said he couldn’t justify keeping it open any longer.

Zatechka said the decision to close Love Memorial Hall was difficult.

The building has functioned as a co-op since 1941. Women who live there perform chores every day and also take turns cooking. Therefore, they spend about half as much on housing as students who live in the residence halls.

Zatechka said he has heard stories of women who were able to attend college only because they were able to live in the less-expensive Love Hall instead of the residence halls. He’s heard about families in which grandmothers, mothers and daughters all lived in Love.

But as times have changed, cooperative living has become a less popular choice, Zatechka said.

Three decades ago, UNL had a half dozen housing cooperatives, Zatechka said.

Now, Love is the only one left. Co-ops at other colleges and universities have also closed in recent years, he said.

McGhee’s noticed that, too.

“It just seems that our society now isn’t one that would support a cooperative,” said McGhee, whose mother lived in Love Hall, too. “People aren’t willing to work to save money. They’d just rather pay the extra money and have all the conveniences.”

Current and former Love residents hope to save the co-op. And Zatechka said there’s still a chance.

If by April current members and alumni can find 40 women to commit to live in Love for the 2006-2007 school year, the hall would make enough money to stay open, Zatechka said.

But, said former resident Lauren Adams, recruiting has always been difficult.

Adams said she found out about the hall through a friend from church. Many of the women who live there hear about the hall through friends and family, she said.

“We used to call it the best-kept secret at the university, and obviously it was a little too well kept,” Adams said.

If recruiting doesn’t work, McGhee said she and other Love residents hope to find a use for the hall that allows it to remain a home. They’ve discussed trying to find a sorority in need of a house, she said.

And Love alumni like Adams, Mueller and others have been e-mailing back and forth in hopes of finding a way to save the unique college experience they all shared.

“It would be a really sad thing for the university to lose that,” Adams said.

Reach Cara Pesek at 473-7361 or cpesek@journalstar.com.