Eliot House Dining Hall Closes During Lunch, Staff Blames Clogged Sink

A build-up of culinary debris is the latest culprit in dining hall closings, as the Eliot House dining hall shut its doors in the middle of lunch yesterday, forcing students to relocate to neighboring Kirkland House for the remainder of the afternoon.

Eliot and Kirkland Dining Halls’ Customer Service Manager Stephen J. Mills said that as soon as staff found the sink clogged with scraps of food and plastic wrapping, a plumbing company was called. Besides the dishwashing area, no other parts of the dining hall were affected.

Many students said their afternoons were not disrupted by the 1:15 pm closure, but Eliot House Master and Harvard College Professor Lino Pertile joined late lunchers in the Kirkland dining hall. The dining hall opened for dinner as usual last night.

The plumbers used a “snake” or “plumber’s friend,” a metal cable inserted down the drain and pulled to dislodge blockages Mills said. Mills added that cleaners were also brought in to ‘sanitize surfaces’ before dinner, which allowed for Eliot students to return to their own dining hall last night to eat.

Mills also confirmed that there was no flood damage to food stocks.

Last Monday, a flood in the Leverett House dining hall shut the private dining room as well as the junior and senior common rooms, redirecting students to the Winthrop and Quincy dining halls. Plumbing problems may have been the cause of the Leverett water leakage, though the exact source has not been determined.