A method, system and apparatus for expanded membership access control in a collaborative environment. A collaborative application which has been configured for expanded membership access control can include a collaborative space configured to host places, and rooms and sub-rooms within the places. The collaborative space further can include a membership management processor coupled to the collaborative space and programmed both to produce access control lists for the rooms and sub-rooms based upon specified roles for members and to assign the roles to members added to the rooms and sub-rooms separately from the access control lists. Notably, a membership directory also can be included which can be configured to store membership information for the members exclusive of the access control lists.