Proctor is where the heart is Certain students left stranded on the weekend

Author: Sage Bierster 07'

I write in response to the decision to close Proctor on weekends. As a concerned student and frequent diner at Proctor, I feel I must explain why I and so many others are dismayed by the College's decision.
Many people comment on the differences in atmosphere, people, etc. that make Proctor such a different experience than Ross or Atwater. The students, the extremely accommodating and friendly staff, the lounge with its booths and couch, as well as the upstairs dining area and family style tables are all huge assets to Proctor as a dining hall. For me, the most important aspect is that as a vegetarian, I can actually eat there. Yes, there are vegetarian options at other dining halls, but I argue that Proctor is the only dining hall that makes an effort to cater to us and more independent-minded students who do not just want to eat the prepared food. In Ross and now in Atwater there is a reluctance to serve vegetarians anything but pizza, pasta, salad and fried rice. I guess I could eat a bagel or yogurt too if I really felt like it. At Proctor there is a better salad bar in addition to several vegetarian dishes such as risotto or tofu - which I cannot recall Ross ever trying to serve - and the panini machines and sandwich bar. It escapes me how something as successful and well liked as the panini machines could go un-copied in the two newer, "better" dining halls.

So why leave other Proctor-ites and me stranded on the weekend? Why force the residents of Starr, Hepburn, Painter, Stewart, many social houses and language houses, as well as athletes, actors and dancers who spend much of their weekends at the Center for the Arts and the Athletic Center to drag themselves across campus to stand in long lines and crowded dining rooms? Wasn't the construction of a third dining hall supposed to alleviate the issues of overcrowding? Then why close a third dining hall and create the same problems on weekends? I also wonder why the closing of Proctor has only now been announced to the student body when it was obviously decided long ago. I would have expressed my concerns before if the College had been public with its intentions when building Atwater. Instead, the College has announced it under its breath, so to speak, while we are distracted with the new dining hall.

If the issue is money, then explain it to us. The students of Middlebury College are some of the smartest in the nation, so we can surely understand if the problem is economic. In that case, the fairest option would be to rotate the closing of dining halls, a different one every weekend. This would, in my eyes, solve some problems and have several benefits - the students who frequent any particular dining hall would be inconvenienced one weekend a month; the staff of each dining hall would get a much-deserved weekend off every month; each dining hall would have a weekend to address problems that have come up without disrupting dining, as well as do any major cleaning, ordering, restocking, etc.; money could be more equally distributed to all three dining halls, with the money that would go to both Ross and Atwater for the weekends going instead to all three for operating expenses.

These are just a few of the benefits of splitting the weekend burden between the three dining halls instead of putting it upon Ross and Atwater. Besides all this, closing Proctor on the weekend is also completely antithetical to the commons system. Even those who do not agree with the goal of the commons can see that trying to accommodate the growing number of students with more dining halls isn't all bad. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes, and to have more than two options of places to eat was a welcome change. Now Middlebury wants Proctor to go the way of Freeman International Center, phasing it out, chopping off hours until we forget it even exists. Proctor may not be the beautifully designed and aesthetically pleasing tour stop that Ross and Atwater are, but it has a home in the hearts and stomachs of students here at Middlebury. Proctor deserves better than to be treated as second fiddle to them. I love Proctor, but I believe we all deserve to have the option of eating at whichever dining hall we choose. Keep Proctor Open.