Disappearing dishware

Author: Laura Barrett

"If we are a leader in environmental campaigns, this problem best be a local, dirty secret," said Matthew Biette, director of Dining Services, discussing the problem of dishes disappearing from the dining halls. This year he anticipates spending over $40,000 on replacing china. According to Biette, as much as 90 percent of that cost might be passed on to students as dorm damage fees at the end of the year.

This year's rash of disappearing dishes follows a pattern that has beleaguered Dining Services for years.

Although this is partly a financial concern, there are health and environmental issues tied into this problem as well. "Some of the stuff we get back has been out for weeks. They're often so contaminated that the people picking them up could get [sick]," Biette noted. Cleaning them is another arduous task. "We have to use caustic chemicals. There's a question of how you soak it, do you bleach it, what bins do you use? And then you have to ask, 'What's going down the drain?'"

Past campaigns to reduce the number of dishes taken from the dining halls have had varying amounts of success. The dish reclamation project was "a big negative," said Biette. "We put out piles of empty dish racks, right in people's way, and they just walked around them." Worse, Biette said, the campaign "gave students license to take dishes and not return them."

One of the more successful efforts was simply not putting out any dishes to replace the ones that had been taken. Juniors and seniors remember drinking out of bowls in Proctor two years ago because there were no glasses. This, according to Biette, made students quite angry, but it also motivated students to return the china and glassware that they had taken.

Another campaign that Dining Services organized took place over Fall Family Weekend in 2003. Dining Services put out a large table with empty dish racks and signs with statistics such as the number of glasses that had disappeared so far that school year. This table was located at the end of the buffet tables at the big community picnic. "That hit home, literally," Biette quipped.

Weybridge residents, the only residential students who are not on the meal plan, were behind another extremely successful effort. They collected dishes that had been left around campus and left close to 1,000 pieces of china and cups lying in front of the entrance to Ross.

Biette did not know exactly which campaigns have been the most successful. Certainly, the number of dishes taken from the dining hall has decreased. In the 2003-2004 academic year, about $80,000 were spent replacing dishes. Last school year, that cost was cut almost in half, and projections for this year indicate that spending on dishes will be approximately the same as last year.

Many students admit to taking dishes occasionally, such as Dan Harburg '08. "I've taken a few mugs. They generally sit in the kitchen on our floor. They get passed around. I've never taken bowls or anything like that." Others, like John Lee '06, claim, "I've never taken a dish out of a dining hall."

Eli Berman '07.5, president of the SGA, agrees with Biette that the College is spending too much money on replacing dishes. "One or two students' educations could be paid for with the money we spend on dishes," Berman noted. He also affirmed, "Some people have heard that the Recycling Center brings dishes back to the dining hall, and so they throw them away."

Despite his stance that "students are culpable," even Berman admits to taking dishes sometimes. "I have one dish in my room right now." He promised to return his.