Butler food policies irk students as midterms near

You’re not crazy—food enforcement at Butler Library might be as inconsistent as it seems.

While Butler does not allow any food to be taken in from outside, frequent library-goers have mixed experiences with sneaking in outside food. And though Butler policy is strict, its enforcement can be variable.

“It’s hard to enforce because people really like to argue about it,” a Butler security guard, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “If they try to sneak food in, we’re not gonna go crazy. We don’t look in your bag. If it’s something obvious that we see, we will stop you.”

For every student that has a tale of pulling a fast one past Butler security, there’s another who could complain about their experiences with confiscated food. Jessenia Martinez, CC ’13, tried to take food from Lerner’s Cafe 212 into Butler when she was studying for a midterm exam last year. But she was stopped by a security guard on duty.

“I didn’t want to argue, so I just went to my room and tried to study without the regulations,” Martinez said.

While Butler does have a cafe inside that serves coffee, drinks, and other snacks during the day that can be eaten in designated areas in the library, Bobbie Hadjiyerou, SEAS ’12, said it seemed to him that “people sneak in food all the time and enforcement is really lax.”

The Butler guard said that while students may not like the policies, they do seem to follow them, if reluctantly.

“Before it [the food policy] was implemented, it was really bad upstairs. People would have pizza boxes and Chinese food,” the guard said.

But another security guard, who also wished to remain anonymous, noted, “If people aren’t making a mess, they won’t get in trouble unless they are in a study room and another person complains.”

When asked about the most common student complaints received, Damon Jaggars, associate University librarian for collections and services, said in an email, “Believe it or not, we receive more complaints about not enforcing food and drink policies than we receive about the inability to bring in food from outside the library, often hearing complaints about sticky furniture and offensive smells.”

Jim Neal, vice president for information services and University librarian, said in an email that the aim was to create policies that were in the interests of both the students and the library.

“Our goal is to keep large quantities of food out of the reading rooms where trash can accumulate, and bugs and rodents can be attracted. The Libraries are trying to be reasonable and responsible,” he said.

Jaggers added that the library works “to balance the protection of collections with student comfort and convenience.”

Students, bracing for midterms, had different views on the policy.

“I can understand why it’s imposed. I don’t want the library to smell like pizza and noodles all the time,” Kevin Montiel, CC ’13, said.

And John Eckels, CC ’13, said he sees value in taking breaks to leave the library. “It is healthy to get up for a while from studying and get food elsewhere,” Eckels said.

But Humberto Estevez, SEAS ’12, said that campus libraries should have places to buy food at all times, and students should be able to bring food in with them.

“I believe libraries should have areas designated for eating, slightly separate from the studying areas but still within the premises where one can buy food at all hours and where students can take their own food and eat it in,” Estevez said.

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