Nutellagate Explained

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.[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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Reyes . Cecilia . March 5, 2013 . Nutella in Ferris Booth costs Dining $5,000 per week, in part due to dining hall thievery . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220706103632/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/2013/03/05/nutella-ferris-booth-costs-dining-5000-week-part-due-dining-hall-thievery/ . 2022-07-06 . 2021-08-24 . Columbia Daily Spectator.
  2. Web site: Grant . Drew . 2013-03-07 . Columbia Students May Be Stealing Nutella, But at Least They Aren’t Writing ‘N***** Oven’ on Campus Elevators (Video) . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221208210859/https://observer.com/2013/03/columbia-students-may-be-stealing-nutella-but-at-least-they-arent-writing-n-oven-on-campus-elevators-video/ . 2022-12-08 . 2021-08-24 . Observer . en-US.
  3. Web site: Testa . Jessica . March 6, 2013 . Columbia Students Are Eating (Or Stealing) $5,000 Worth Of Nutella Each Week . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221205113312/https://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/columbia-students-are-eating-or-stealing-5000-worth-of-nutel . 2022-12-05 . 2021-08-24 . . en.
  4. Web site: Chung . Jen . 2013-03-06 . Columbia Students "Stealing" Nutella From Dining Hall, After Paying $49,574 For Tuition & Food . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220808200927/https://gothamist.com/food/columbia-students-stealing-nutella-from-dining-hall-after-paying-49574-for-tuition-food . 2022-08-08 . 2021-08-24 . . en.
  5. Web site: Kingkade . Tyler . 2013-03-07 . Columbia Students Are Eating 100 Pounds Of Nutella A Day . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221127100736/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/columbia-nutella_n_2831584 . 2022-11-27 . 2021-08-24 . . en.
  6. News: Barron . James . 2013-03-07 . On Campus, Costly Target of Brazen Thefts: Nutella . en-US . A23 . . limited . 2021-08-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220617014405/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/nyregion/for-columbia-students-nutella-in-a-dining-hall-may-be-too-tempting.html . 2022-06-17 . 0362-4331 . .
  7. Web site: Trotter . J. K. . 2013-03-07 . Columbia Only Has a $500-Per-Week Nutella Habit . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221130041318/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/03/columbia-only-has-500-week-nutella-habit/317628/ . 2022-11-30 . 2021-08-24 . . en.
  8. Web site: Peralta . Eyder . March 7, 2013 . At Columbia University, Nutella Thefts Make Headlines . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220813195546/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/03/07/173752172/at-columbia-university-nutella-thefts-make-headlines . 2022-08-13 . 2021-08-24 . . en.
  9. Web site: Barron . James . 2013-03-07 . Missing Nutella, Part 2: Columbia Puts Consumption Far Below Report . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220620202238/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/missing-nutella-part-2-columbia-puts-consumption-far-below-report/ . 2022-06-20 . 2021-08-24 . The New York Times . en-US.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nutellagate".

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