Dishwashing Project Tackles Social Stratification

Author: Alison Damick

A seemingly endless line of students wait to slide their dinner trays onto the revolving carousel and escape into the night. What often goes unrecognized, however, is that for some members of the college community, the dining process does not end so simply as a quick drop-off of dishes and a dash between the milling, laughing groups out the door. The kitchen staff works behind the scenes, cleaning mountains of dishes and disposing of heaps of waste after every meal.

Last year, however, a few students did notice, and decided that it was time to make the campus more aware of the everyday commitment of College employees. With their concern, the Middlebury Dishwashing Project began.

Leda Smith '02 and Oren Frey '02, conceived the Dishwashing Project last year by organizing groups of students, faculty and staff to work for one night in dining hall dish rooms. According to the information sheets posted for the public in all dining halls, the purpose of the program is to "build a better, less stratified, more respectful Middlebury College community, show appreciation for those who make Middlebury the place it is, learn about what it's like to make our school run smoothly on a day-to-day basis, [and] give back to and take ownership of the place in which we live and work." It goes on to encourage members of the college community to "meet new people, see how much food we waste, have fun!"

Lauren Ziegler '05 and Caitlin Prentice '05 run the Dishwashing Project. Prentice signed up and worked one night last year and enjoyed the experience so much that when Smith and Frey were in search of successors, she decided to take the job. Her motivation for the project, she says, is her father. "In the community where I grew up, my dad was a local celebrity," she explains. "My dad is highly respected in his community. My dad is also a custodian."

When she arrived at Middlebury, Prentice was shocked to see the lack of respect, and often complete indifference, towards members of the custodial staff.

"I had no idea that in other communities the roles of custodian, cafeteria worker, bus driver, etc. are so looked down upon," she continued.

"This was incredibly sad to me, that there was so little interaction, let alone respect, between students, faculty, and staff, especially because I knew that it could be so different. So that's what I like about the Dishwashing Project -- I think it has the potential to break down the ignorance and disrespect I see all around me."

Prentice and Ziegler organize groups of student and faculty dishwashers from an e-mail list compiled from those who signed up to work last year. The Dishwashing Project took to the dining halls every Wednesday during Winter Term.

Its focus has been on getting clubs and teams to wash together, thus attracting people who may have been less inclined to volunteer independently.

The most recent workers have included the women's tennis team, the Mountain Club, Xenia House, WRMC, MIX and Middlebury Initiative for Sustainable Development (MISD). The Dishwashing Project hopes to have even more student groups involved in the spring when it expands the project into more dining halls. They hope to wash every other Thursday. The inclusion of more professors is another goal for the Spring Term. Visiting Scholar in Environmental Studies William McKibben will be washing with his Winter Term class, "Sustainable Food Production," this Wednesday, and Prentice and Ziegler are currently trying to line up spring first-year seminars to volunteer collectively as well.

The ambition for a more respectful and aware campus does not end, however, with the Dishwashing Project. Prentice and Ziegler are investigating the possibility of a Campus Citizenship Requirement.

So far, their former supervisor Frey has authored a report on the idea that is currently being distributed to deans, trustees and other members of the administration.

While they are hopeful that this requirement will be put into effect on campus, for the moment they are focused on increasing involvement in the Dishwashing Project.

Individual and group volunteers are welcome to sign up and learn a valuable, if soapy, lesson about the maintenance of the Middlebury lifestyle.