A Ross Dining Hall checker was doing morning setup around 5:45 a.m. on Monday, April 30, when the Department of Public Safety alerted the dining hall staff that both computer monitors had been stolen, the receipt printer had been smashed and the wires had been torn out of the ground.
“It was frustrating,” the checker told The Campus. “This is my work station, so I felt a little bit like my private space had been taken.”
The college confirmed to The Campus that at 5:50 a.m., a custodial supervisor reported a smashed printer and missing monitors at Ross Dining Hall. Public Safety is still investigating the incident, and it remains unclear how the perpetrator entered the Ross complex.
The checker said that no windows were broken in the dining hall area. The person would likely have needed ID access or been granted entry by someone else in order to steal the items.
Since the vandalism, students have entered the dining hall by merely showing their IDs to the checker, which means that anyone with a Middlebury ID can enter, but no one can do guest swipes.
“We can’t decide on who has a meal plan and who doesn’t due to the system not being up,” the checker said.
At around noon on Tuesday, May 7, they began to set up a new monitor system in Ross. As of Wednesday, the system is still not fully set up.
The checker added that it is unclear how the monitors, which they said only have the system for the IDs in it, will benefit the person who stole the equipment.
John Dow, another employee in Ross Dining Hall, said that it also seemed like the person had tried tampering with the drawer at the checking station.
“Assuming they think there’s money in it. There might be a dollar in it,” Dow joked.
On the same night as the incident at Ross, a student called Public Safety at 2:23 a.m. to report a broken window in Atwater A. Residential Life and Public Safety responded to the report. The facilities department was notified to begin repairs, according to the college.
Katie Futterman '24 (she/her) is a Managing Editor.
Katie previously served as a News Editor and Staff Writer. This past summer, she was a news intern at Seven Days, and she held the same position at the Addison Independent the prior summer. In her free time, she loves to read, write, and bask in the sun.
