Uploaded September 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Cooperative Life at Stanford University
Co-operative societies bring forth the best capacities, the best influences of the individual for the benefit of the whole, while the good influences of the many aid the individual.
Leland Stanford
October 1, 1891
Stanford University Opening Ceremonies
I think one of the most important things to be taught in the institution is co-operation. ... By co-operation society has the benefit of the best capacities, and where there is an organized co-operative society the strongest and best capacity insures to the benefit of each.
Leland Stanford
June 22, 1893
Last letter before his death,
written to University President Jordan
Synergy is a student-run cooperative community on the campus of Stanford University. Cooperative organizations were central to the founders' vision for Stanford University, and have existed on the campus since it opened its doors in 1891.
Today, Synergy House and its fellow campus cooperatives continue to uphold Stanford's founding vision.
Synergy Cooperative Manifesto
We aim to create an alternative-lifestyle community that provides a safe space for the growth and education of youth in the modern age. This is accomplished through a self-educating living space that gives students opportunities to push their boundaries and discover the questions that they are working on. Cooperation and consensus teach essential nonviolent communication skills. At its heart, we aims to be a community of encounter...a place where you can be guaranteed to show up and have the conversation you didn't even know you were needing. Activism in the face of cultural stagnation. Open support of creativity and cooperation. Principles of improvised action: showing up, saying yes, and creating events to share our collection of knowledge -- music festivals, full moon celebrations, skill shares and midnight manifestos. The idea is to create a space for ritual and purpose in the vacuum of our failing industrial education. Reconnect to roots. Realize collective humanity. Make your homework your life work.
Where is Synergy?
Synergy Cooperative
550 San Juan St.
Stanford, CA 94309
This was the only fraternity house ever designed by renowned Beaux Arts architects Bakewell and Brown, who also designed the City Halls for San Francisco and Pasadena, and many other buildings at Stanford. On July 10, 1991, the Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission voted unanimously to recommend that Synergy House be given Point of Historical Interest status. Donald Kennedy, Stanford University president, ordered the demolition of the house in November 1991 to replace it with faculty houses. He turned down an offer of a one million dollar loan from the Campus Co-op Development Corporation to repair damage from the 1989 earthquake. He refused to speak with any members of the Committee for the Preservation of Historic Stanford about the historical importance of the house. The Synergy Co-op community relocated to several other houses after the 1989 quake and today continues in the Cooksey House on the Stanford Campus. The palm trees in these photos still stand. Donald Kennedy had offered his resignation from the Stanford Presidency in the midst of his decision to demolish Synergy House.
Cooperative Life at Stanford University
Co-operative societies bring forth the best capacities, the best influences of the individual for the benefit of the whole, while the good influences of the many aid the individual.
Leland Stanford
October 1, 1891
Stanford University Opening Ceremonies
I think one of the most important things to be taught in the institution is co-operation. ... By co-operation society has the benefit of the best capacities, and where there is an organized co-operative society the strongest and best capacity insures to the benefit of each.
Leland Stanford
June 22, 1893
Last letter before his death,
written to University President Jordan
Synergy is a student-run cooperative community on the campus of Stanford University. Cooperative organizations were central to the founders' vision for Stanford University, and have existed on the campus since it opened its doors in 1891.
Today, Synergy House and its fellow campus cooperatives continue to uphold Stanford's founding vision.
Synergy Cooperative Manifesto
We aim to create an alternative-lifestyle community that provides a safe space for the growth and education of youth in the modern age. This is accomplished through a self-educating living space that gives students opportunities to push their boundaries and discover the questions that they are working on. Cooperation and consensus teach essential nonviolent communication skills. At its heart, we aims to be a community of encounter...a place where you can be guaranteed to show up and have the conversation you didn't even know you were needing. Activism in the face of cultural stagnation. Open support of creativity and cooperation. Principles of improvised action: showing up, saying yes, and creating events to share our collection of knowledge -- music festivals, full moon celebrations, skill shares and midnight manifestos. The idea is to create a space for ritual and purpose in the vacuum of our failing industrial education. Reconnect to roots. Realize collective humanity. Make your homework your life work.
Where is Synergy?
Synergy Cooperative
550 San Juan St.
Stanford, CA 94309
This was the only fraternity house ever designed by renowned Beaux Arts architects Bakewell and Brown, who also designed the City Halls for San Francisco and Pasadena, and many other buildings at Stanford. On July 10, 1991, the Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission voted unanimously to recommend that Synergy House be given Point of Historical Interest status. Donald Kennedy, Stanford University president, ordered the demolition of the house in November 1991 to replace it with faculty houses. He turned down an offer of a one million dollar loan from the Campus Co-op Development Corporation to repair damage from the 1989 earthquake. He refused to speak with any members of the Committee for the Preservation of Historic Stanford about the historical importance of the house. The Synergy Co-op community relocated to several other houses after the 1989 quake and today continues in the Cooksey House on the Stanford Campus. The palm trees in these photos still stand. Donald Kennedy had offered his resignation from the Stanford Presidency in the midst of his decision to demolish Synergy House.
