Food services seek theft awareness with poster campaign

Food services has placed posters in Gresham Food Court which detail several extreme lengths students go for free food, as well as flyers warning students they are being video taped "to hold people responsible for their behavior," and possibly be recommended for judicial board review as part of a plan to curb food court theft.\nThe posters warn against several infractions, including taking the grilled chicken off the bun and hiding it under a salad.\n"Our costs are skyrocketing because of theft," said Gina Brooks, Gresham Food Court manager. "We track the food. We know what's ordered, prepared and lost from waste. We know what we should be going through and the discrepancies are pretty dramatic."\nBrooks said the way Gresham was built allows students to hide what they are doing in certain areas. However, she said not all theft is intentional.\n"There are people who eat grapes in line that aren't doing it maliciously," she said. "We're just trying to make them aware of their theft."\nSandy Porter, manager at Wright Food Court offered another explanation.\n"This is the time of year when a lot of students start running out of meal points," she said. "They need to remember they can still pay cash or get someone else to pay for them."\nFood services receives no funding from the state or the University with all the costs paid by students going through cash registers. Porter said they are currently operating nearly 3 percent higher than where they should be.\n"This is home," Porter said, "And we want students to feel at home, but we also want to make them aware when they eat stuff they haven't paid for, it affects the cost for everyone."\nBrooks gave an example of just how much one person can affect the cost of food.\n"Last week I was talking to a student who was rebuilding his sub," she said. "He had two grilled chicken sandwiches he was attempting to put on it. A sub already costs $3.69, and you add those two grilled chickens, that's about six dollars right there."\nStudent reaction to the campaign was mixed.\n"I noticed the sign talking about a (Judicial) board meeting," sophomore Colin Beck said. "That seems a little overboard for just stealing something when they could just have you pay for it."\nPorter pointed out the cameras are not used just to punish students. \n"They're there for security for any type of incident," she said. "The (IU Police Department) uses them a lot if there's misuse of someone's ID. The cameras actually work to the student's benefit if someone steals their ID."\nOther students reacted with indifference.\n"I could care less. I am not a crook," said freshman Tyler Crookston, using his best Richard Nixon impression.\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu