Stolen mugs threaten free coffee service

 

Many of you may know Col­lis’ One Whee­lock as a great place to get a free cup of cof­fee; how­ever, this ser­vice could be shut down in­def­i­nitely. The cozy cof­fee joint has re­cently put up signs, warn­ing both stu­dents and fac­ulty that if they “take away mugs…[One Whee­lock] will take away cof­fee." The sig­na­ture mugs are off-white and sport the red One Whee­lock logo. They're being stolen at a rate of six or more per week, ac­cord­ing to Yan Fan '11, Pres­i­dent of the Col­lis Gov­ern­ing Board.

When One Whee­lock first opened in 2010, it had much nicer mugs. Due to theft, how­ever, they’ve had to swap out these ex­pen­sive, hand-made mugs for much cheaper, mass-pro­duced ones. Yan Fan de­scribes sto­ries of “hordes of One Whee­lock mugs being found in dor­mi­to­ries, off-cam­pus hous­ing and nearby Greek houses.”

The Col­lis Gov­ern­ing Board has been keep­ing a list of names of both in­di­vid­u­als and Greek houses known to have mugs in their pos­ses­sion. One so­lu­tion they’ve sug­gested is to in­voice those who have been iden­ti­fied with mugs.

Though the CGB’s ap­proach may seem harsh, or as some claim, “rude,” many stu­dents aren’t aware that One Whee­lock is run sep­a­rate from both Dart­mouth and the rest of Col­lis. The gov­ern­ing board pays for the free cof­fee, mugs and the main­te­nance. If we aren’t care­ful, One Whee­lock may take away cof­fee until a cer­tain num­ber of mugs are re­turned. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.