Ann Tweedale, our namesake, was a brave and courageous woman who, in 1884 along with 27 men, formed the first cooperative store in Rochdale, England.  This store, at the present time, is one of the largest in England. The first principle of these Rochdale Pioneers was democracy. Cooperatives are created for ourselves and within ourselves.

Cooperating literally means "working together." What is impossible for a few is easy for many. Everyone must know their part and feel that they are working toward a common goal. Each Cooperative House at Purdue does all their own cooking and cleaning, making the cost of living very affordable. All of the chores at Ann Tweedale are divided up among each member. Each week the women have particular responsibilites around the house:

Minors:
These consist of one or two small chores a week, taking approximately Ten to fifteen minutes to compelete each one.

Wake:
There are no alarm clocks at AT! Don't worry though, we "wake" each other up. Each morning a different member comes into the cold air dorm to wake everyone up on the hour or half-hour. The night before, each woman sets her time on a tag board of when she would like to be woken up, and the "wake" person acts as her personal alarm clock.This especially comes in handy when you want to make sure you get up for an exam in the morning!

Majors:
Each woman will have two to three thirty minute long cleaning projects that are randomly assigned throughout each semester.

Kitchen Minutes:
Ninety minutes of kitchen duty per week are given to each AT member. She may choose from: breakfast cleanup,lunch prep, lunch clean-up, dinner prep, or dinner clean-up.

Phone Duty:
Phone duty is enforced Monday through Thursday nights beginning at 7pm. Each member may have a two hour duty three to four times a semester. This simply means answering the phone as well as answering the door.

For additional information about cooperatives see the North American Students of Cooperation.