By Eric Mistry 

mistryer@grinnell.edu

As hungry students trudged out of the gray slush and into the Dining Hall for dinner last Sunday, they were greeted by an unseasonal array of color. Gone were the beige plates and bowls of old, and in their stead shone new plates of earthen yellow, brown, and blue. As with any other drastic change, the new dishware immediately sparked discussion and a few rumors.

“Every few years, the number of dishes that are fully usable [no cracks or chips] gets too low to work in our system, so we have to do a periodic reorder,” explained Dick Williams, Director of Dining Services.

After nearly six years in the JRC, it was time for new plates. These new plates with their unique colors had some students worried that the colors were designed to be appetite suppressing. However, Williams explained that was not the case, and that the colors were chosen to complement the existing stir-fry dishes and the Dining Hall decor.

A majority of the rumors focused on the dishware’s powers to limit student’s food intake due to their perceived smaller size. However, these rumors are completely false. The size of the plates and bowls, the size is to promote efficiency for the workers in the back, not limit food intake. The new bowls also stack better, which makes moving the dishes easier for the Dining Hall workers.

“Students are always free to eat as much as they want,” Williams said. “Having one size of bowls and plates makes everything in the back more efficient.”