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September 28, 2007 > News > North Servery experiences china shortage

North Servery experiences china shortage

By Joyce Yao | Thresher staff

Due to a loss of china in the North Servery, the North colleges may have to revert to using paper and Styrofoam at their meals.

North Servery manager Julie Bogar said she thinks the china is probably being taken back to students’ rooms and left there. She said there have even been occasional reports of china being found in the residential college trash bins.

“It’s encouraging that [the students] are using less disposables,” Bogar said. “But it would be really great if they could bring [the china] back to the servery.”

Although in previous years there has been a consistent loss of china, Bogar said she was shocked at how fast the dishes, especially the soup bowls, have disappeared this year. She said 50 percent of soup bowls were lost in ten days.

At the beginning of the year, there were enough soup bowls to fill the servery, and there were around 50 - 100 extras kept in the back, but by the end of the tenth day, there were not even enough to last through lunch, Bogar said.

Bogar said she expected such a rapid loss of china to take place in the South Servery, not the North.

“The South colleges usually see more movement of their china [among the colleges], particularly from the South Servery, because students from Baker, Will Rice, Lovett and Sid Richardson Colleges eat there often,” Bogar said.

Ten dozen new soup bowls have been ordered, but the North Servery has been contemplating using alternate utensils, such as disposables or army-style trays.

“I hope we never have to go that far,” Bogar said. “We’re just kicking around a few ideas, but it’d be best if we could keep the china in [the servery].”

Martel College President Mikaela Dennison said that it is often difficult to pick up the disposables during peak hours, with long lines at servery entrances. Since Brown and Martel voted against using disposables this year, students in the North Servery now have to go to the Jones entrance for disposables. Students have been taking the china from the servery because they are more accessible than the to-go dishes, she said. Martel students have voiced their complaints about the lack of disposables and she is meeting with the Environmental Committee of the Student Association to figure out a solution, she said.

“We just need to be practical,” she said. “Angered students are less likely to try to change their lifestyle in order to make environmentally-conscious choices.”

Because of these miscommunication issues, the north colleges should discuss disposables plans together, rather than have each college decide separately, she said.

Brown College sophomore Tim Faust said it is frustrating not to have china available at the servery, especially when there is a lack of bowls.

“You can’t have soup or cereal on a plate,” Faust said. “I can’t imagine what kind of villain would take [the china] back to their rooms and not return them.”

End of article

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