After repeated misuse, Fonseca Center shut down for student use
Empty chairs, empty tables. The Davis Cafe of the Fonseca Center is no longer open for student use, due to repeated instances of students not cleaning up dishes and food wrappers. Executive Committee is taking proposals for future solutions .
May 27, 2022
On Monday, May 9, Head of the Upper School Peter Newcomb and Head of School Laura Danforth announced that the Fonseca Center (FC) will be closed indefinitely due to improper clean up by the students. Repeated actions disrespecting the space and ignorance towards reminders prompted the closing. Newcomb and Danforth said that the FC will only open with the approval of a student proposed idea by the Executive Committee (EC).
“I think this is an opportunity for us to take collective responsibility for our shared spaces,” Newcomb said.
The news prompted a quick response. Three proposals were sent to Newcomb on Monday after the email was sent. He expressed his excitement to see what EC has produced. During Wednesday’s EC meeting, plans were discussed on how to approach this situation. Sophomore class president Arjun Ratan focused on how the underclassmen should treat public spaces in the future. Ratan as well as others believe that the FC is utilized more by the underclassmen leading to this more emphasized responsibility on them. To combat this issue, sophomores Oliver Kreeger and Ratan spoke with the freshman class presidents Sophie Moussoupar and Bobby Ding on ways to address their grades. Out of this came ideas such as a monitoring system commanded by seniors.
In the EC meeting on May 11, students recognized that this isn’t only an FC issue only but rather a problem that takes place in the dining hall too. In regards to both situations, the committee focused on ways to hold students accountable such as possibly “punishing” the inconsiderate with clean up after lunch.
Edward Gormley, Upper School student activities & transportation coordinator believes that there aren’t many solutions that would work except one: self-policing.
“The only thing that would work and it would take complete buying from the students is to self-police. If some say hey you are leaving a mess behind that person don’t get insulted,” Gormley said.
With a smile, Gormley expressed how he feels about the quiet of the empty cafe, “I miss everybody so I hope they come up with an idea soon.”
As of Friday, May 27, EC has not released an official solution.
