2008 Woodie Awards
Huden thefts annoy director, raise costs
Dawson Raspuzzi
Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: News
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Reward: A whole lot of cash in your pockets instead of invested in next year's meal plan.
Pete Merritt, food service director at Castleton State College, said these are just some of the items that were taken from Huden Dining Hall last semester. Theft, up to this point in the school year, has totaled thousands of dollars already, according to Merritt.
Each item stolen from Huden contributes to a more expensive meal plan for students when next school year rolls around.
"What is stolen needs to be purchased to be replaced. The money has to come from someone," Merritt said.
There are three different types of theft that Huden that officials are trying to put an end to. The first type is theft of the small stuff like utensils and other hard goods. The second is the theft of services or food, which includes students filling Tupperware containers with food or bottles of juice and bringing them outside of the cafeteria.
And lastly, Merritt wants to put an end to people sneaking into Huden without a meal plan, or using a friend's meal card.
Students with meal plans are allowed to eat as much food as they wish inside of the dining hall, but are not allowed to take food with them when they leave. There are exceptions, which Merritt calls "Pete rules," in which students are allowed to grab a single piece of fruit or a bowl of ice cream for the road.
This school year, the amount of food and supplies lost has astonished Merritt, who is in his first year at CSC.
"These problems are at every college café, but it's about as worse here as anywhere I've been," he said.
Merritt blames a lot of the theft on student confusion about the rules. Others, he acknowledged, are knowingly taking advantage of the cafeteria.
"I can't blame them for not knowing the rules, although others are purposely sneaking things," he said.
The rules in Huden have not changed since Merritt has taken over, but he believes the rules were not strongly enforced before this year. Because of this, a lot of students probably don't know when they are doing something they aren't supposed to be doing, he said.
Signs explaining what is and isn't allowed for meal plan residents have recently been posted throughout Huden to make sure that students do know what is acceptable. Merritt said that the rules will also be clearly stated in next year's meal plan guidelines so all incoming students will know the rules from the beginning.
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