Brown Dining Services officials said the program’s policy for to-go meals remains unchanged this year, despite some students’ perception that the office has recently implemented a stricter approach to take-out meals.
Students taking to-go meals from University eateries must inform Dining Services employees upon entering an eatery that they would like a to-go box and cup, a policy officials said has not changed despite reports from some students that this policy is not uniformly enforced.
Cecilia Cerrilla ’16, who wrote in an email to The Herald that she visits the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall multiple times a week, wrote that she recently noticed a difference in the V-Dub’s takeout policy.
“Last Thursday, when I asked the swiper if I could have a cup, he told me that if he gave me a cup, he had to give me a take-out box too,” Cerrilla wrote. “He said it was a new policy because too many people were using the cups to steal milk and other items from the V-Dub.”
But Dining Services Director of Administration Ann Hoffman wrote in an email to The Herald that Dining Services employees still operate under the current to-go policy, which permits students to turn down a cup if they choose.
“There has been no change in policy, nor is the policy at the (V-Dub) different from that of the Sharpe Refectory,” Hoffman wrote.
Though the to-go policy remains unchanged, student theft from campus eateries occasionally occurs, Dining Services Associate Director Peter Rossi wrote in an email that Hoffman forwarded to The Herald.
Rossi wrote that he could not provide an exact amount of money that Dining Services loses to theft annually, adding that Dining Services does not have any way to calculate losses from theft. Rossi said staffers play an important role in mitigating theft and preventing losses.
“Our staff is trained to manage these situations as they occur by following appropriate policy guidelines,” he wrote.
Some students said they believed theft from campus eateries was a problem but not an urgent issue. “I think it happens pretty often, especially little things like fruit, but people don’t steal large amounts of food,” said Dipal Nagda ’17.
“I know people who have stolen food before, but I don’t think it’s an incredibly prevalent issue,” said Chester Kilfoyle ’16. But Kilfoyle added that he believed Dining Services has been stricter about its to-go policy this year, which he said has helped reduce theft.
The high cost of meal plans motivates much of the theft of food in campus eateries, some students said. Nagda said many students think they have a right to steal food because they are already paying high costs for the food offered by meal plan choices.
“There’s a high perceived cost of meal plans,” Kilfoyle said. “People just feel like they’re trying to make the best of it.”
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