Nutellagate

A jar of Nutella, along with Nutella spread on bread and a pitcher of milk

Nutellagate was a controversy at Columbia University surrounding allegations of widespread student theft of dining hall Nutella. Columbia first began serving Nutella in its dining halls in February 2013. Within a month, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported that high demand for the spread was costing the university $5,000 per week, a figure reportedly calculated by Executive Director of Dining Services Vicki Dunn, as students were consuming up to 100 pounds of Nutella per day.^[1] In a school-wide email, Dunn accused students of filling cups with Nutella and stealing full jars from John Jay Dining Hall.^[2] It was estimated that at that rate, Nutella consumption would cost the university $250,000 a year, enough to buy seven jars for every undergraduate student.^[3] The high volume of Nutella consumption raised questions around food waste, dining hall meal plan costs, exorbitant tuition rates, and consumerism.^[1][4][5]

The story quickly garnered national attention, and was reported the next day in The New York Times.^[6] The student blog Bwog calculated based on the original figure from the Spectator—$5,000 per week for 100 pounds per day—that unless the Spectator had misreported the numbers, the university was being charged 70% more for its Nutella than prices offered by local distributors.^[7] Two days after the Spectator article, the university clarified in a statement titled "NUTELLA-GATE EXPOSED: It's a Smear!" that the weekly cost of Nutella was actually less than one-tenth the reported amount, and that while in the first week the university spent $2,500 on Nutella, the cost had actually fallen to around $450 in following weeks.^[8][9]

References[]