The Case of the Missing Dishware

At a school that knows how to keep its secrets, Sherlock HUHDS is still trying to find the answers to life's persistent dining questions.

You may have seen posters of a sad lolcat throughout campus dining halls. Examination of the animal raises questions: What is this cat doing here? What could cause this cat so much distress?

Upon further investigation, we see that the caption on the poster reads, “I can haz my dishware bak? Plz?” The posters, put up by the Resource Efficiency Program, state that HUHDS spends $200,000 a year replacing dishware, which averages out to $30 per student. Other posters have taglines like "WANTED: Dishware" or pictures of Mrs. Potts and Chip.

These posters are part of a larger effort to stop student misuse of HUHDS dishware. “It's something that makes REP unhappy because lots of resources and energy go into producing the china and getting it to Harvard,” said REP representative Lila G. Brown '11.

REP coordinator Brandon P. Geller '08 told us that the issue isn’t really with breakage or general wear-and-tear, but with perfectly good dishware being thrown away. He said that students often forget about dishware that they bring back to their room. When they remember it again, they sometimes take the easy way out and throw it away.

“It’s at the point where food is moldy, so students either assume the plate is too gross to use again [...] or they’re too embarrassed to bring it back down.” Geller said. This is why REP does “amnesty dishware drives” in which students can bring their used dishes to a convenient spot (like the base of their entryway) to be picked up without facing punishment. (By the way, if you're curious, Geller said that cereal bowls have seen the worst losses across campus.)

According to Crista Martin, director of marketing and communication for HUHDS, the loss of dishware results in a cost of about $150,000 every year. "It is an unfortunate cost, with not just financial but environmental impacts, that could be reduced with help from the community,"  Martin wrote in an e-mailed statement. "Any money we don’t have to spend replacing dishes could instead be invested in the menu."

Dorm Crew members told us that, based on their observations, these concerns about unreturned dishware are not unfounded. "I’ve seen plenty of dishware in people’s rooms," said Alexis C. Gomez '13, a current Dorm Crew captain. "Last year in the entryway of Wigg, I noticed a pile mugs lined up against a window sill."

Patrick A. Jolicoeur '13, another dorm crew captain, said that he once counted 29 dining hall cups in one room. He added that because Dorm Crew isn’t responsible for returning dishes back to the dining hall, students should be more proactive in helping to solve this problem.

“I don’t know what can be done about this," he said. "I don’t think they should stop people from taking dishes out of the dining hall. The responsibility is really on the people to just bring them back.”

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.