Dining utensils reported missing

Forks, cups purportedly taken from RFoC

February 20, 2006 —

Over 800 forks, nearly 400 parfait cups and varying amounts of other supplies have mysteriously vanished from the RFoC in recent weeks, Dining Services officials say.

The Valley Vanguard met with Executive Chef Nick Cole, Dining Services Director Matt Wilton, and Marketing Director Heidi Shattuck to discuss the recent disappearance of the dish and flatware

Both Wilton and Shattuck expressed concern over the missing articles.

"The hardest part is to determine what's broke and what's not broke," Wilton said. Breakage of supplies is recorded daily, Kole added, and while Dining Services is taking into consideration the possibility of unrecorded breakage, it can simply not make up for all the missing dishware.

"We're not necessarily going after everybody," said Wilton, who emphasizes the need for honesty and encourages students that have dishes to simply return them.

Shattuck said that they will be conducting "amnesty runs," wherein Dining Services workers will be braving the winter in order to collect trays and dishes from dorm rooms.

Wilton offered two undesirable solutions that may or may not solve the problem: one, students would not be allowed to carry in coats or bags into the dining rooms, and two, Dining Services would have to resort to purchasing inexpensive, lower quality dishes.

Kole added that some "permanent" dishware is actually more expensive than some disposable brands.

"There's just no way we could have broken 400 plastic cups," Kole said.

When asked whether or not additional security measures would or could prevent future theft, Kole responding by mentioning the scale of security a restaurant the size of the RFoC would require.

"It would take about 40 cameras to cover the entire area," he explained.

Naturally, these security measures would be reflected in food costs.

Ultimately, it is the student's responsibility to maintain a reasonably priced, high quality dining experience, the officials concluded.