Nutellagate

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Nutellagate was a controversy at Columbia University surrounding allegations of widespread student theft of dining hall Nutella. Columbia first began serving Nutella in its dining halls in February 2013. Within a month, future Pulitzer Prize winner Cecilia Reyes reported in the Columbia Daily Spectator that high demand for the spread was costing the university $5,000 per week, a figure reportedly calculated by Executive Director of Dining Services Vicki Dunn, as students were consuming up to 100 pounds of Nutella per day. [1] In a school-wide email, Dunn accused students of filling cups with Nutella and stealing full jars from John Jay Dining Hall. [2] It was estimated that at that rate, Nutella consumption would cost the university $250,000 a year, enough to buy seven jars for every undergraduate student. [3] The high volume of Nutella consumption raised questions around food waste, dining hall meal plan costs, exorbitant tuition rates, and consumerism. [1] [4] [5]

The story quickly garnered national attention, and was reported the next day in The New York Times . [6] The student blog Bwog calculated based on the original figure from the Spectator—$5,000 per week for 100 pounds per day—that unless the Spectator had misreported the numbers, the university was being charged 70% more for its Nutella than prices offered by local distributors. [7] Two days after the Spectator article, the university clarified in a statement titled "NUTELLA-GATE EXPOSED: It's a Smear!" that the weekly cost of Nutella was actually less than one-tenth the reported amount, and that while in the first week the university spent $2,500 on Nutella, the cost had actually fallen to around $450 in following weeks. [8] [9]

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Cecilia Reyes is a senior reporter at Insider Inc. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Reyes, Cecilia (March 5, 2013). "Nutella in Ferris Booth costs Dining $5,000 per week, in part due to dining hall thievery". Columbia Daily Spectator . Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  2. ↑ Grant, Drew (2013-03-07). "Columbia Students May Be Stealing Nutella, But at Least They Aren't Writing 'N***** Oven' on Campus Elevators (Video)". Observer. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  3. ↑ Testa, Jessica (March 6, 2013). "Columbia Students Are Eating (Or Stealing) $5,000 Worth Of Nutella Each Week". BuzzFeed . Archived from the original on 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  4. ↑ Chung, Jen (2013-03-06). "Columbia Students "Stealing" Nutella From Dining Hall, After Paying $49,574 For Tuition & Food". Gothamist . Archived from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  5. ↑ Kingkade, Tyler (2013-03-07). "Columbia Students Are Eating 100 Pounds Of Nutella A Day". HuffPost . Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  6. ↑ Barron, James (2013-03-07). "On Campus, Costly Target of Brazen Thefts: Nutella". The New York Times . pp. A23. ISSN   0362-4331. ProQuest   1314868720. Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  7. ↑ Trotter, J. K. (2013-03-07). "Columbia Only Has a $500-Per-Week Nutella Habit". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on 2022-11-30. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  8. ↑ Peralta, Eyder (March 7, 2013). "At Columbia University, Nutella Thefts Make Headlines". NPR . Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  9. ↑ Barron, James (2013-03-07). "Missing Nutella, Part 2: Columbia Puts Consumption Far Below Report". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
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