Despite a brief shift in furnishing this weekend, all has returned to normal in the "dark room" of the dining hall at Moulton Union. Students were surprised to find the dining room tables in a different arrangement than normal when they arrived for a meal. Instead of being arranged in identical rows, the tables had been rotated about 45 degrees and sat in rows of varying length.
While some students did not notice the change, it confused many others and prompted rumors about reasons behind the change.
Director of Dining and Bookstore Services Mary McAteer Kennedy said that Dining Service received numerous comment cards complaining about the change.
The source of the change turned out to be a simple employee mistake.
"According to the Moulton Union Dining Manager, Lester Prue, a new employee who was working this weekend rearranged the seating thinking that the new arrangement would be more efficient for cleaning the floor," wrote Kennedy in an email to the Orient.
Simon Brooks '14 thought the change was part of an effort to reduce student stress by switching up the normal configuration and offering a new perspective in the dining room. He also suggested another theory.
"I think it was to confuse the hockey team, so that they wouldn't know where their table was," he said.
Many members of the men's hockey team often sit in the same place in the dining room. Daniel Weiniger '13 and Kyle Shearer-Hardy '11, who both play on the men's hockey team, were also confused by the change.
"I thought it was a terrible idea," said Weiniger.
Shearer-Hardy said he was open to change every once in awhile, but he thought the new table arrangement did not quite work.
"The new employee was not aware of the seating dynamics that happen in the dining rooms or that changing the entire dining room around is something he should have had permission for," wrote Kennedy in the same email. "The dining managers know that many groups of students enjoy sitting in specific areas, so when they make seating adjustments, it is done at the beginning of a semester."