The Fresh at Carmichael Dining Center has closed for the rest of the fall semester due to flooding following nearly a month of intermittent closures.
The dining hall’s initial closure on Nov. 11 was caused by drain blockages that flooded multiple areas, forcing Tufts Dining to discard certain items and resanitize others.
Tufts Dining originally announced that the dining hall would reopen the next day, but this deadline was pushed to Nov. 13.
Carmichael Dining Center, in a 71-year-old building, then shut down again on Nov. 23 for what was expected to be a short period of temporary repairs. However, the team soon discovered the issues were more extensive than they originally thought.
“As we are cleaning out the pipe to restore the water flow, we’re discovering pieces of broken pipe and … can see that there’s breaks in the line, which means the water cannot flow properly,” Patti Klos, Tufts’ senior director of dining services, said. “[This] means I don’t meet the Board of Health sanitary requirements for proper drainage away from the kitchen, etc., which means I can’t operate and it can’t wait for the break.”
Klos explained that Carmichael Dining Center could not reopen until it was inspected by the local Board of Health.
“When there are certain types of service disruptions in a licensed food operation, you have to contact the local Board of Health, which we promptly did. They came in to see how we were addressing it,” she explained. “They asked us to do some additional level of cleaning. … They came [back] first thing the next day, and so we opened for lunch.”
According to an email sent to the Tufts community on Nov. 30, Carmichael Dining Center is expected to reopen next semester.
Repairing the broken pipe required jackhammering sections of Carmichael’s floor in order to reach the four-foot-underground pipe. Some students living above the dining center say the construction noise has affected them.
Guy Pardo, a Carmichael Hall resident, said he was woken up because of the sounds at 8:30 a.m., which is earlier than he normally would wake up.
The extended closure has been particularly disruptive for students with dietary restrictions. Carmichael is Tufts’ designated gluten-free, tree nut-free and peanut-free dining center, and Klos says that many students rely on it.
Luke Dyer, a first-year with dietary restrictions, said he was able to adjust but still missed the variety Carmichael typically offers.
“I rely heavily on Carmichael, I would guess that I eat there as little as twice a day. On the other hand I probably eat at Dewick twice a week and Hodge three times a week,” he wrote in a statement to the Daily. “When Carm shut down I was easily able to find alternatives. Dewick has a top 9 section that I can eat from and the food there tends to be pretty good. That being said, I did miss having the variety of choice that I usually get at Carm.”
Klos explained how Tufts is adapting their menu options at other dining halls and their retail options to further accommodate the community’s dietary restrictions.
“We had been producing gluten-free sandwiches in Carmichael that we were sending to a couple of other locations,” she said. “We’re looking in the marketplace to buy pre-made [sandwiches] to see if we think there’s something of comparable quality that we can offer for the same price. … I think we made them available in Hodgdon, SMFA and Kindlevan.”
The shutdown also raised concerns about the employment of staff and student workers who worked at Carmichael Dining Center. However, Klos explained that no employees lost pay or hours as student employees were given the chance to work elsewhere.
“Regular employees are continuing on their regular schedules,” she said. “We’re reaching out to our student employees to offer the same or similar. … As you can imagine, Hodgdon [Food on the Run] might increase its customer count. Kindlevan {Cafe] might increase its customer count.”
