Steel House: Since 1953

Steel House is named after Ethel K. Steel, who served as a member of the board of regents at the University of Idaho from 1933 to 1946, and was a leader in the movement to provide cooperative residence halls at the University. Steel House, the oldest womens cooperative in the country, replaced Ridenbaugh Hall (now a music practice facility) on April 11, 1953. Ethel Steels desire was for residents to learn responsibilities of caring for a home in exchange for lower living rates. She established scholarships for the residents and initially gifted several items to the house, including a silver service set.



Run through the University of Idaho dormitory system, students at the U of I had several living options. Steel House and Targhee Hall (formerly the Campus Club) were designed to provide the community feel that the regular dorm options could not provide. Students in these halls agreed to run their houses by hiring cooks, managing the kitchens themselves, and doing all the cleaning duties. This often saved residents $1,000 per year in living expenses. Steel House and Targhee often attracted students of financial need; therefore, providing financially challenged students a means of attending the University of Idaho.



Steel House was managed from 1953 to 2007 by University of Idaho Residences, with fees paid directly to the institution. Residents elected members to oversee meal planning, food preparation and service, janitorial duties, and often, financial responsibilities for the cooperative. Each member took their turn working in the kitchen, food service, and keeping their cooperative home clean. By hiring their own cook, doing their own janitorial chores, and purchasing supplies, residents of Steel House were able to keep costs low. Living in Steel House was often the least expensive means of attending the University of Idaho. Steel women essentially provided themselves with a solid scholarship!



Initially, the Women of Steel were served by a house mother. Later, the residents were provided a Resident Assistant (RA) through the housing office. She lived with the women, keeping order in the house and providing contact with University Residences. The RA was generally an upperclassman or graduate student.



Steel House functioned much like a sorority in that women lived together under the same roof. Thats where the similarity stopped. To become part of Steel House, women simply signed up through the housing office to be a resident. There was no need to pledge the house and no social activities were required of the residents. The officers at any given time made all the difference in the variety of activities Steel House residents chose each semester. Although they mixed frequently with sororities and fraternities on campus, Steel Houses sister group was the mens cooperative, Targhee Hall.



The main purpose of the original facility Ridenbaugh Hall, and then Ethel Steel House, was to provide an affordable living environment for female students while they attended the University of Idaho. Because of the endowments set up by Ethel K. Steel, and then a group of residents in 1996, several scholarships were available to any student who met the requirements of the specific scholarship. By the time the original building on Blake Street closed in 2007, residents could gain additional financial assistance by choosing to hold certain offices and then applying for scholarships. It became feasible that a resident of Steel House could almost live for free in the house if she could keep her grades up, making her eligible for scholarships, and then holding the office of Kitchen Manager, Kitchen Planner, Janitorial Manager, or Treasurer.

The Closing of Steel House in 2007

In the spring of 2007, the director of housing made the announcement on a grim day in March that University Residences would be closing Steel House for good. They cited extreme costs for facility renovations as their reasons. The director of housing met with the women at the house to pass along the news. The blog shows how the women functioned as a community and what it meant to be a Women of Steel. The women did what they could to keep the cooperative community alive:

We have worked throughout the year to create a home and a family, and even with the utter devastation the housing department has left in its path, we have remained strong and faced the crisis in our stride. Steel House is a massively brilliant community and we will not forget it or the families that have grown and inhabited this home for over 50 years. (Rachel Steel House resident, 2007)

Although the director of University Residences, Michael Griffel, could provide the women with very few options, the University did make some attempt at finding the Women of Steel a new home. However, the choice offered to them would have no longer allowed the women to function as a cooperative. The option offered to the residents would have changed the very face of how Steel House functioned. Another blog explains what a resident felt about the Steel House community:



It is a house whose members are responsible for cleaning its premises, including doing the dishes, and must have the responsibility to police and enforce those rules. Steel House women have shown the capacity to meet those responsibilities. According to the universitys own Web site for Steel House, Ethel K. Steel was a strong advocate for cooperative living. Steel House is the nations oldest cooperative and enjoys some of the benefits of cooperative living such as democratic member control, autonomy and independence, and concern for community. The Steel House cooperative is a positive and successful living arrangement that should be continued at the University. (J. P. Steel House Resident 1997-1999)

The University of Idaho did not find a solution for the Women of Steel. The women were left homeless for the school year 2007 2008. The president, Sara Cooke, met with Dean of Students, Bruce Pitman. Finding former residents of Steel House to back their cause, the group set out to re-establish Steel House in the manner set up by Ethel K. Steel. The New Ethel K. Steel House

After several meetings with the Dean of Students Office at The University, a handful of members, still desiring to keep the tradition of Steel House alive began the daunting task of finding a new home for the Women of Steel. In the spring of 2008, advisors worked alongside with Bruce Pitman (Dean of Students) to secure a contract with the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house, which had been vacant for two years. Although the fraternity eventually plans to come back to campus, they were interested in renting their facility to the Women of Steel. That lease expires in the spring of 2012. By then, the Women of Steel will need to have a new facility.

Advisors raised money from former residents to help furnish the facility (located at 620 Idaho Avenue) and provide the initial start-up items to run the facility. Over the spring and summer of 2008, additional residents were recruited. The Dean of Students Office agreed to sponsor Steel House as an on-campus living group. Students desiring to become a part of Steel House could do so through that office.

The advisory group incorporated themselves as Steel House Inc. so they could legally run the facility and manage the house. This provided the Women of Steel the umbrella they needed to be considered an on-campus living group. Steel House Inc. took over the responsibilities of running the house. They agreed to handle the finances while the Dean of Students Office provides institutional structure and an official connection with the University of Idaho. The connection with the Dean of Students allows Steel House to be a University sponsored organization.
The Ethel K. Steel House scholarships are still available to residents. The main goal of Steel House is still educational. The house (physical facility) provides a place for the women to live on campus while attending The University. In working with Steel House Inc. and the Dean of Students Office, residents of Steel House fulfill all that Ethel K. Steel intended for the original house. Steel House remains a place where residents live as a cooperative group of women while attending school. Steel House also provides a place where women can live more economically than the dorms, a sorority house, or even off-campus. Without the lower expenses offered by Steel House, many students would not be able to attend The University.

The Future of Steel House

Members of Steel House Inc. are working alongside the Dean of Students Office to find a piece of property on the University of Idaho campus where a new facility can be built. A fundraising campaign will begin in the fall of 2009 to solicit donors to help fund the new facility. With rent upwards of $75,000 a year to the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, Steel House Inc., current residents, along with the University of Idaho wish to put those funds toward a facility of their own.



Over the next three years, student residents will work with Steel House Inc. and other University of Idaho departments to draw plans for a new building that will be located somewhere on the University of Idaho campus. In keeping with the tradition of cooperative living, the entire process of the new Steel House will be student driven with assistance from various organizations associated with the University of Idaho.