Dear Editor,
This napkin fiasco is absolutely disappointing and disconcerting. It is frustrating that Sodexo would make such a fundamental change without even attempting to see how the Houghton community would react. While it is understandable, and even admirable, that our “food” provider is attempting to use less and conserve resources, getting rid of table-by-table napkin dispensers is not the best way to go about it. While I can appreciate the effort of trying to use less, I have seen innumerable students partaking in the usual meals, with stacks of unused napkins resting on their tables, or being sent into the dish room because everyone at the table brings a small stack of napkins, not knowing what disastrous spillage may occur. Especially considering Sodexo deemed it acceptable to completely throw away all of the table dispensers. Now, each one of the dispensers has a retail value of about $10, and let’s say there are 50 tables in the cafeteria (a modestly low estimate), that’s a solid $500 quite literally in the trash. Could we not have donated them to a community organization, at the very least? Ironically, this has all come to light in the midst of the Eco Rep’s waste awareness week, a week dedicated to making the campus aware of exactly how much we’re wasting on a week to week basis. I’m so glad we have Sodexo as such a wonderful example of what waste looks like.
Liana Wool
Class of ’16
