Forbes College temporarily restricts access to kitchen

The Forbes College staff began restricting access to the Main Inn kitchen last week following repeated physical abuse of the room by unknown students.

The act has prompted complaints from Forbes residents over their limited access to the facility.

Forbes College Administrator Alison Cook said students had been warned after the custodial staff had found the kitchen in a disorderly state, but after a group left the facility especially dirty approximately one week ago, the staff locked the entrance.

"It was the third or fourth incident in that kitchen in recent days," Cook said. "The custodial staff has to routinely clean up these messes."

"The act of closing the kitchen was a stand we had to take," she added.

According to Cook, the conditions of the kitchen were "unacceptable."

"There was food all over the floor. It was ridiculous and incredibly immature behavior," she said. "The coffee shop was left in equally bad shape that night."

Cook said administrators have been led to believe that Forbes students may have been responsible for the abuse of the facility. She emphasized, however, that the college office has tried to maintain accessibility to the kitchen by giving a key to one residential adviser and one key to the students who use cabinet space in the kitchen.

"There is complete accessibility to that kitchen and anything reported otherwise is untrue," she said.

Forbes RA Michael Bosworth '00 said he agrees with the staff's decision to lock the kitchen. "This isn't the first time the college office has had to close the kitchen for vandalism," he said. "In the past it's proved effective."

"People need to be reminded that it is a common space and they need to keep it as clean as possible," he added.

Mary Pat Manzo '03, who lives on the same hall as the kitchen, said she is not happy about the closing because she usually uses the kitchen several times per week. "It's kind of an inconvenience to have it be sitting there but not be able to use it," she said.

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She added that the restricted access to the kitchen may be punishing the wrong students. "The people that messed it up are probably not the same people who use it because people who use it would probably keep it neat," she said. "By closing it, you punish many for the mistakes of the few."

Cook said that she expects the kitchen will be reopened by the end of the week.