The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Andrew Ngeow [Click to enlarge]

Each dining hall has its fanatics. Atwater Commons students seem to love Atwater's dining hall so much that they never leave the grass-roofed building. Their dining hall boasts a piano, a comfortable sitting area, delicious garlic bread, pizza and fresh pasta. Ross residents come to eat in flip-flops regardless of the weather and wait in long lines for the latest and greatest from the famous Mongolian wok. Proctor fans praise the dining hall's panini machine and the fully stocked salad bar, some advertising their Proctor passions with t-shirts that read, "The Strength of the Terrace is His Also."
Who and what are responsible for the variety and difference between dining halls?
"When there was only Proctor and Freeman International Center (FIC), the dining halls used to share the same menus," says General Manager of Commons Dining Bradley Koehler. The chefs spend between 10 and 15 hours per week conceiving and posting their menus.
A lesser known fact is the extent to which menus are shaped by student feedback and suggestions. Thanks to the comment card system at each of the dining halls and the Grille, students are able to voice their opinions on not just what the dining halls serve, but their thoughts and opinions about how they serve it.
And commenting just got even easier, as comment cards are receiving a technological makeover.
"We've recently put comment cards online, since so much of what students do is on the computer," says Koehler as he pulls up the Dining Services Web page to demonstrate.
Nobody remembers exactly when the comment card system first began - no one asked seemed to remember when the system began, nor could they recall a Middlebury without this avenue of discourse between students and staff.
In any case, the possibly-ancient system is still functioning today, and students continue to take advantage of it on a regular basis.
"I once requested more Roman sandwiches in Proctor," says Michael McCormick '09. "They said they'd eventually have them again, and then, well, they did."
Kelsey Nelson '09 confesses that she has never filled out a comment card, but says that her friends did all the time.

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