Proctor brunch back on the table

Author: Thomas C. Drescher

Director of Dining Services Matthew Biette announced in a campus-wide e-mail last Thursday that Proctor Dining Hall will once again offer Sunday brunch. The surprise schedule expansion, ultimately approved by President Ronald D. Liebowitz, comes in the wake of a surge of student discontent with the administration's decision to close Proctor on weekends.

Biette called the decision "somewhat of a compromise," and cited numerous complaints from Brainerd and Wonnacott residents and a Student Government Association (SGA)-endorsed bill demanding that Proctor fully reopen as primary motivating factors for last week's decision.

Biette noted that the SGA's bill did not account for the additional funding necessary to open a third dining hall on weekends, adding that Dining Services has been forced to hire an additional staff member just to handle Sunday brunch at Proctor.

Other sources of student dissent regarding Proctor's schedule reduction earlier in the semester included a student petition with over 400 signatures.

Last spring Dining Services had announced plans to shrink Proctor's operating schedule, but the impact of the reduction was not clearly perceived by students until it actually went into effect this Febuary.

Wonnacott SGA Representative Eli Berman '07.5 authored an initial bill immediately after Proctor shut down for the first time on a weekend, but his efforts were not realized until a second, modified bill was approved by the student governing body.

Biette noted that Sunday brunch is the most popular weekend meal - Saturday meals are never an issue in terms of capacity - and that the current schedule will mostly likely be in effect until Proctor is renovated or eliminated entirely.

Berman called the Sunday brunch reopening "great for the College and students."

Berman drafted the SGA bill on Proctor and commons dining, and has been one of the most outspoken students in favor of reinstating Proctor's former schedule, both for the immediate benefit of students and for the long-term integrity of the commons initiative.

"This decision shows that we as a student body have power," asserted Berman, "and if we voice how we feel we can truly change things here at Middlebury."

Berman acknowledged that the SGA played a major role in propagating Liebowitz's recent decision, but credited the student body in general for its "collective participation" in the effort.

Berman called the decision a step in the right direction, but also said there are still some major problems in terms of where the administration wants to go with commons dining.

"It certainly shows that they're listening," he said. "We have a voice, and if we're strong enough [the administration] will listen and change school policy."