Dining Commons faces mounting dishware losses

By Mack Eon and Kyla Smulski

Stonehill College’s Dining Commons is facing an ongoing shortage of dishware and utensils following what administrators describe as a significant number of unreturned items this semester. 

In an email sent to students earlier this month, the Office of Student Affairs urged community members to return any borrowed dining items. “Have you borrowed a cup, plate, bowl, or silverware from the Commons? As you may have noticed, the result of unreturned items is that the supply of these items is very low at the moment, despite tens of thousands of dollars being spent on replacements this summer. Please help keep dining rates low by returning borrowed items today!” the message said.  

Joshua Hennessy, Director of Operations at Stonehill for the Bon Appétit Management Company, said in an email for the Summit that while some students may view taking dishes or silverware back to residence halls as harmless, the losses have become increasingly costly. 

“An exact number of asset losses is not available at this time, but there have been various cases involving missing items since the beginning of the fiscal year,” he said. “Steps are being taken to reduce the number of lost items.” 

Hennessy said that while the issue is often labeled as “theft,” Dining Services understands that many students intend to return what they take - even if those returns rarely happen.  

“We recognize that many students take items from the Commons with the intention of returning them, so we generally don’t refer to the loss of items as a theft,” he said. “With that said, our recovery rate for lost items is less than 1%.” 

Commonly missing items include utensils, cups, small and large plates, salad bowls, and cereal bowls. Although the specific replacement costs fluctuate from year to year, the impact is significant. A specific total cost was not given.  

“The Commons strives to offer meal plans that deliver value while providing a wide array of options to match the palates and preferences of Stonehill community members. When we incur significant losses of utensils and smallwares and need to replace items, overall meal plan costs are ultimately affected,” he said.  

To prevent further shortages and rising costs, Hennessy and the Dining Services team are encouraging students to return any items taken from the Commons and to be mindful of how small actions affect the broader campus community. 

“Every plate and fork makes a difference. Returning these items helps us keep the dining experience affordable and sustainable for everyone,” Hennessy said.  

At a recent SGA meeting, student representatives discussed ways to address the ongoing issue of dishware and silverware being taken from The Commons. Executive President Ula Nguyen ’26 brought the concern to the table. 

“The fact that we take the bowls out of The Commons, I think that’s one of the main issues we have right now,” Nguyen said. “Because what they said was that when we take the bowls, the forks, and the knives, we get more money on our tuition.” 

Bella Reynolds ’27, the Executive Programming Chair, proposed a possible outreach approach to address the issue. 

“Maybe we can put on our Instagram kind of like how this is affecting our students. I didn’t know that it goes on tuition, and I’m from out of state, so my tuition is already high enough as it is,” Reynolds said. “So maybe we can do some of that, and then following that post, we can say, on this date, SGA members are going to come to res halls and see if you have any plates, cups, or anything.” 

While no final plan has been confirmed, representatives exchanged a variety of ideas and reflected on past initiatives that could inform new approaches. Members remain committed to finding an effective way to reduce the loss of dining items from The Commons.