The Bowdoin College Dining Service thinks that you might agree to swipe your card at Super Snack if a burly football player tells you to do so.
The football team will assist the checker with security at the entrance of Thorne Dining Hall during every Super Snack, beginning on Thursday, November 16. The date marks the first weekend after the team's last game.
The arrangement is a response to the recent security issues at Super Snack. Several students have snuck past the checker's station without paying for their meals, and Super Snack employees have complained of a general disrespect for the staff.
"Just the size of the guys at the door—I think that students will listen to them if they remind students that they have to show their ID or that we're closed," Director of Dining Services and Bookstore Operations Mary Lou Kennedy said.
It is unclear where the idea for the service originated.
Kennedy said that the idea for the service came from David Burgess, Thorne Hall's service/data coordinator.
The football team co-captain Brendan Murphy '07 said that a player suggested the idea to the team at a team meeting.
"The football team was looking for a volunteer opportunity to help improve campus life and we contacted Dean [of Student Affairs Margaret] Hazlett and Dining Services about this idea and they said that behavior at Super Snack was becoming an issue, so we thought it was a perfect opportunity to try and help make Super Snack a more secure and enjoyable environment [for] the students and the staff," Murphy said.
Hazlett and Kennedy both said that one football player helped out at Super Snack last year. They did not identify him, but noted that his success made them very receptive to the team's idea.
"To have peers managing other peers—I just think that's great," said Hazlett.
Murphy described the volunteers' roles as mediators.
"Ideally it will be two people either at the door or sitting inside, and the goal is to act as an intermediary between the staff and student and tell students to calm down if things do begin to get out of hand," said Murphy.
"I think it's terrific that the football team members want to help out in this way," said Kennedy.