Pete Napolitano has resigned after 10 years at the helm of the financially-troubled Dartmouth Dining Services, accepting a new position at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Students began calling for Napolitano's resignation during Spring term, when The Dartmouth reported that DDS lost more than $1 million since 1994. The debt was mostly due to Napolitano's policy of giving students additional dining options: He gave students the option to eat more meals off campus, and, for the most part, they did.
When Napolitano announced in Spring term his plan to alleviate DDS's financial woes by requiring students to spend $800 per term in dining halls -- a less restrictive policy than the one he eliminated a few years before -- students reacted with protests, and some of them attacked him personally.
One student wrote in a letter to the editor, "Off with Napoleon's head, or at least remove him as head of DDS."
Students voted against his $800 plan in a referendum, opting instead to eliminate some services. About 20 DDS employees lost their jobs as a result.
In an interview with The Dartmouth from his Middlebury office, Napolitano said he left Dartmouth because he needed room for professional growth.
"I've gone and done about as much as I could do at Dartmouth," Napolitano said. "It became obvious that now is as good a time as any to leave."
"I think I feel very good and confident about my decade of service," he said. "We accomplished an incredible amount of growth and we've learned from each other and we've stuck together through the good as well as the bad times."
Associate DDS Director Tucker Rossiter will serve as acting director until College Treasurer Lynn Hutton names a permanent replacement.
When Napolitano arrived at Dartmouth, freshmen and sophomores were required to pay for 21 meals per week on campus, and freshmen and upperclassmen were segregated to different dining halls.
Napolitano gave students dining freedom, but quickly learned that freedom has its price. Once allowed to escape the dining halls, students tended to spend their food dollar in downtown Hanover.
"We were trying to meet student requests, but we gave away too much," said DDS Assistant Director Jerry Gambell. "That was an experiment that didn't work."
Napolitano introduced comment cards, renovated the Collis Cafe, Byrne Hall and Home Plate. He eliminated some middle management positions.
Napolitano's team broadened the role of Thayer Hall by adding the College Copy Center, Topside Convenience Store, the Student Employment Office and a student television lounge.
He made some changes that were wildly unpopular with students, such as removing entrees from the Lone Pine Tavern and downsizing the Collis Cafe salad bar. Both changes have been reversed.
Napolitano said his first week at Middlebury went "beautifully," and he is excited about his current project to expand the dining options at the college.
Napolitano said he plans to use what he learned at Dartmouth to revamp Middlebury's dining services, and he already has planned "round-table discussions" like those he staged at Dartmouth.
He moved to Middlebury because it required the shortest move for him and his family, he said. Napolitano also considered schools in Michigan, Florida and Colorado.
