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Although food theft has always been a thorn in Vassar Campus Dining’s side, this year the number of students stealing from the All College Dining Center (ACDC) and the Retreat has reached new heights. “When someone steals furniture, the whole dorm pays,” said Vassar Student Association Vice President for Student Life Elizabeth Anderson ’11. “If people start stealing from ACDC, then the whole college pays.”
The issue, according to those pursuing solutions to the issue, seems to be that students do not equate taking food from ACDC or the Retreat with stealing. “Though students think there’s nothing wrong with [stealing from ACDC and the Retreat], if you went to a restaurant on Raymond Avenue and left without paying the check, there would be serious consequences,” said Senior Director of Campus Dining Maureen King.
According to King, the number of students stealing from Campus Dining has reached a critical mass that will cause the College to take action.
“Every time I walked into the building I saw [students] walk into the side doors,” she said. Initial estimates, calculated by ACDC cashiers, put the number of students sneaking into ACDC at nearly 100 per day, but since Dining Services has recently assigned someone to monitor this issue, it has become clear that the number is closer to 200.
A major problem with these statistics, said Anderson, is that the College does not know who is stealing food. “We’re trying to figure out if it’s students on the meal plan or off-campus [students],” said Anderson. The possible solutions differ depending on which group is stealing from ACDC. If the culprits are students who are already on the meal plan and have extra meals, then the food has technically been paid for. The real loss occurs when seniors and town students who are not on the meal plan sneak in to ACDC.
To combat the latter case, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke suggested that it should be mandatory for all students, including seniors and town students, to be on a meal plan. Anderson, however, opposes this possible solution, claiming that ACDC is too far from senior and off-campus housing, and that “seniors think it’s cheaper to [cook] on their own.”
A more viable solution, said Anderson, would be to install turnstiles at the exits of ACDC that would allow paying students to exit while preventing others from entering, and King suggested installing surveillance cameras. “While [turnstiles are] unattractive and costly, it may help to maintain the integrity of dining spaces,” wrote Senior
Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker in an e-mailed statement, emphasizing that they would be a last resort.
In addition, the Department of Security has added ACDC to its regular rounds. “Security goes past ACDC anyway,” said Anderson, “and if they see people sneaking in they can say that it’s against the law.”
The College is also trying to publicize the negative consequences of stealing from the dining halls. “A student who steals is a thief,” wrote Parker. “Students may believe that taking food is no big deal, but students who have been caught find this is a major embarrassment for years afterward. It can become a significant blemish on an otherwise proud and honorable college career. Frankly, stealing food is just not worth it,” he continued.
Furthermore, if the thefts continue, the administration would be forced to raise the price of the meal plans in order to compensate for the cost of these stolen goods. Unfortunately, increased prices may lead to more stealing, creating what Director of Marketing and Sustainability Ken Oldehoff referred to as a vicious cycle.
Stealing from the Retreat is also a major concern for the College. “Students blatantly eat while they’re in there,” said Anderson of the Retreat. However, she does not want to see the College adding more security and policing students while they eat. “We don’t want to monitor students; we want to trust them,” she said. Campus Dining, however, has not taken this issue off of the table.
According to King, the products being stolen from the Retreat include “most of the items in the coolers, which may affect the Local Foods Program,” which brings high quality, although somewhat expensive, local products to the Retreat. The percent of goods stolen from the Retreat can be as high as 60 percent for some items, as was the case with Fage Total Greek Yogurt, which Campus Dining had to move to the Kiosk in order to prevent people from stealing it. The removal of Greek Yogurt may be the first of many cuts if this situation is not rectified in the immediate future. “What if we eliminated [bottled] Pepsi products and made students use fountain products?” suggested King, because while students can hide a sealed bottle in their bag, the open fountain cups would spill.
Although Campus Dining hasn’t removed most food products yet, they order food based on the number of paying customers that they receive on average, so if hundreds of students start stealing from ACDC and the Retreat, then there will be food shortages.
In addition to having a negative effect on revenue, these thefts also hurt the College’s employees. Not only is stealing from ACDC and the Retreat bad for morale among the workers, but it carries “real consequences on how people’s yearly evaluations are made,” said Oldehoff. People whose job it is to maximize profits for the Retreat or ACDC, he explained, would receive a negative review if stealing were to cut into those profits. This negative review can in turn lead to financial consequences when it comes to yearly raises.
“Students think stealing is okay,” said King. “We need them to know that it’s not okay.”
14 comments
We could also put up an idea to play intellectual music (I'm sure you know the sort) during the AC/DC hours in order to further our fruitful conversations. Perhaps spread a few volumes of Jane Austen around the tables? Oh! Make students write essays in order to enter the AC/DC... no, no never mind that would be too much. Our brains might explode from all this intellectualness!
Anyway, I sure hope you pass this plan. It seems really well thought out and what the students need and want. Even if they all agree that they don't want it, you and I know better right? "No" really does mean "yes" sometimes. Sincerely,
A student
Dean of the College
Professor of Education