Dearth of dishwashers in CDS creates problems

Dining Halls using paper plates and cups

First it was a challenge to find something to eat at Stevenson. Now the problem is what to eat it on. Just try to find a dish that isn't made of styrofoam or paper, or a clean fork in the middle of lunch hour.

Stevenson and Dascomb dining halls are both running low on dish washers. Both dining halls fill these positions with student help and without enough applications to keep their cleaning facilities fully staffed, the dirty dish load has been too voluminous to handle. Campus Dining Services (CDS) has 250 dishwashing slots to fill. With many positions left open, CDS's solution has been to take the students out of the loop by supplementing regular dishes with paper or styrofoam.

"We're in the process of hiring student help," said Director of Campus Dining Service David Jensen. "Students are slower than usual. There's no way to wash dishes without them."

This year marks the first appearance of paper plates in the dining halls. Nobody is quite sure why so few students have committed to dish washing. Nick Wauters, director of the Student Employment Office, said "CDS has a bad reputation which it doesn't deserve and people are waiting for another job."

Some students were angered by the switch, venting their frustrations about flimsy dishware and picnic atmosphere on the dining hall comment boards.

"There were some questions," Jensen said, "But we posted signs explaining the situation and people understood from that point on."

The reaction in the dining halls remains largely negative.

"I don't like these," said first-year Jeremy Miller. "It's bad for the environment. It's an incredible waste of resources. It's not pleasant to be eating off of these plates."

Another first-year at Miller's table in Stevenson agreed. "It concerns me that we're using paper plates," Carey Maxon said, "I do hope they find workers soon."

A third diner at the table was indiffedrent to the new plates. "I think the food sucks on good plates or styrofoam," first-year Sam Taylor said.

But one group that's definitely enjoyed the switch from glass and ceramic to paper and plastic are the CDS staffers who have been hired thus far to clean and wash.

"It feels great to us," said CDS employee Dawn Quinn.