Why Exonians Should Stop Stealing

By  SAMUEL ALTMAN ‘26, JINMIN LEE ‘26

Being busy does not justify neglect. Exonians stress about grades, sports, and clubs, leading them to forget the very basic etiquette that helps our school function. Two issues illustrate this idea: not returning dining hall silverware/bowls and forgetting to hand in sports uniforms. Not only do these two problems strain Exeter financially, but they also cause faculty to spend valuable time cleaning up after the students’ neglect.

Silverware

        Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, the dining halls were forced to allow students to take silverware and dishes outside of their typical spaces. Then, it was to ensure the containment of disease, but the culture of eating outside of the dining halls has continued on to today. Although many Exonians only take disposable items, a surprising amount of resources have been lost due to students never returning what they took from the dining halls, amounting to thousands of dollars of loss for the school in some terms.

       “Before the pandemic, the community dined in the dining halls and taking food out was limited, so there was never really an issue of loss on utensils, cups, bowls and plates,” Director of Dining Services Melinda Leonard explained. “But after the pandemic, the to-go option remained as a choice and saw a shift from using the dining halls to packing meals to go. I believe the perception or understanding might have become, ‘If I can take a paper plate, then why can’t I take a china plate or bowl with the intention of returning it to the Dining halls?’ Unfortunately, that is not our reality and leads to heavy losses over the course of a term.”

       Leonard also commented on the specifics of what has been lost. “For example, we started with 600 bowls last fall, and by the time everyone left for Thanksgiving break, we only had 49 left. And that’s only one term — over time, replacement costs add up, and this could be easily controlled if these items were not removed from the Dining halls. I have considered going to a less expensive alternative, yet offering a high quality of dishware, mugs, and utensils is part of providing a welcoming dining experience, and I would not want to take away from this.”

       Michael Hebert, also a member of the dining staff at Elm Street, discussed previous recovery efforts. “For years, we have sent out emails. Melinda [Ms. Leonard] would send out a message saying, ‘If your dorm collects them, we’ll pick them up.’ But every time we attempted to do that, there was very little, if any, traction. Not one dorm followed up on that request.”

Sports Equipment

       Similarly, student apathy has affected the athletic equipment room. Returning to campus after a sports game with four hours’ worth of homework for the next day can be daunting. Thus, many student-athletes opt to turn in their sports uniforms “the next day” or “sometime in the future.” But life at Exeter presents new problems constantly, and by the time the next day rolls around, student-athletes are faced with other assignments and meetings, leading them to forget to return their uniforms. This situation presents a massive challenge for the equipment room.

       “In the 2022-23 school year, the equipment room lost $2400 worth of sports equipment,” noted Nicole Benson, Athletics Equipment Manager. “Therefore,” Benson continued, “this past year (23-24), we had to hunt people down with billing requests and reminder emails should they not return the equipment. Before these measures, we were down $5800 last spring. Thankfully, our efforts brought the amount down to $800. The equipment room matches each uniform number with a student, so we know who to contact when something gets lost.”

       Shame plays a big role in not returning uniforms. Students must acknowledge that the equipment room does not penalize late returns and accepts even damaged or broken uniforms without any judgment. “We want to encourage conversation about why equipment goes missing, added Benson. “We want to communicate with students; if uniforms are damaged, we want to fix them. Part of playing hard is sometimes damaging uniforms, and that is normal.”

       Students do have the opportunity to return their uniforms the next day after games and meets on the weekend because washing happens on Mondays. However, the equipment room encourages students to please hand in their uniforms right after Wednesday’s games since washing happens on Thursdays.

       One solution is very simple. Student leaders (e.g. captains, proctors) and faculty members (e.g. coaches, dorm heads) could frequently remind athletes to return uniforms and students their bowls/silverware. But most importantly, students should change their mindset about school equipment: uniforms and china are a privilege and do not belong to students. Just like how one would return anything borrowed from a friend or teacher in a timely manner, uniforms should be treated with respect, too.