Middbrief: New dining hall dishes emerge from storage

The influx of new white plates and little bowls of varied sizes in Ross and Proctor dining halls have no significant purpose except to replace the more colorful china students have taken from the dining halls but not returned. These white plates, which were replaced with the colored ceramic dishware years ago, were stored rather than thrown out, and are now needed once again.

With shrinking storage space and the constant loss of the colored dishware, the Dining Services elected to bring back the old white plates.

“We are using the limited space for other uses, and we need plates now,” said Matt Biette, director of dining services.

“We had all that nice colorful ware and we had stuff of a plastic assortment that was colorful and it gets discarded. Most people should realize we are in an economic downturn.”

Biette made clear that this change is solely an economic decision: to avoid having to spend unnecessary amounts of money on new dishware when the original colored dishware is likely still located in non-dining hall locations on campus where students have left it.

“We could walk around right now and find dishware in the back of Battell in the bushes there,” said Biette.

"I have seen plates even in the snow banks.”

Students acknowledge that removing dishware from the dining halls is a relatively commonplace practice.

“I know some people who keep a plate and some silverware in their room,” said Michael Graham ’12.

“When I take dishes from Ross, it’s because I am rushed,” said Cordelia Newbury ’13.

“Although I know getting the new plates was the better financial choice, I miss the fiesta ware.”

Biette states that the college is not a “to-go campus.”

Students in a hurry often grab dishware and eat their meals on the run; however, he cautioned that if this continues, there will not be a sufficient amount of dishes in the dining halls.

“When we run out, we run out,” he said.

Biette also expressed concern about the condition of dishware long a stranger to dining hall dishwashers.

“When was the last time these things were washed?” he said.

“How long have they been sitting there? How dry and caked up is the bacteria there? We don’t want to handle that. Would you?”

Current economic conditions have led Dining Services to consider a couple of alternative solutions, one of which would be to supply the suites on campus with dishware for their kitchens.  Since the plan costs $16,000, Biette said it has been on hold for about a year. Another option would be to fine students for the dishware they take.

Despite students’ fast-paced schedules, as Biette put it, “it is not part of the meal plan to allow the taking of plates from the dining halls.”