Quad Dining Halls Vandalized Over Weekend

Unidentified vandals trashed the Cabot and Pforzheimer House dining halls this weekend, according to Harvard University Dining Services spokesperson Alexandra McNitt.

The incident, where vandals wrecked the Brain Break areas—punching holes in gallons of milk and scattering cereal, cheese and deli meats throughout the serveries—occurred sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

“It’s very disheartening when the staff has invested so much energy and pride into opening up a new facility,” McNitt said.

“We don’t know who did it and under what circumstances,” said Cabot House co-master Janice Ware. “It was completely inappropriate and needs to be addressed. There were a large number of parties going on, but I don’t know if it was associated with that.”

Harvard University Police Department Spokesperson Peggy A. McNamara said an investigation into the incident, which has been classified as a breaking and entering, is ongoing.

Cabot and Pforzheimer House masters have decided to suspend Brain Break for an “indefinite” period of time in response to the incident.

In an e-mail to House residents, the Cabot co-masters wrote, “We fully realize that this will be an inconvenience to many, but we want to be sure that we can avoid a repetition of this incident before putting the brain break area at risk again.”

McNitt said the vandals appear to have broken into the dining halls by accessing a door off of a mop sink that leads into the Pfoho dining hall, which connects to the Cabot dining hall.

She said the vandalism occurred some time between Saturday night and 6 a.m. Sunday morning, when a dining hall employee arrived to find the facilities trashed.

Ware said neither of the dining halls— complete with new marble countertops, enhanced lighting and repainted walls from summer renovations—was permanently damaged, but expressed frustration about the vandalism.

“We are very concerned because the kitchens are brand new. The staffs in both houses have spent endless hours staying late at night and trying to get the new kitchen set up,” Ware said.

—Staff writer Jenifer L. Steinhardt can be reached at steinhar@fas.harvard.edu.