With dinners at Market Central priced at $11.95, some students may see no problem with taking… With dinners at Market Central priced at $11.95, some students may see no problem with taking some of the all-you-can-eat food for the road – or a plate or a whole set of flatware for that matter.

But Sodexho has a problem with this mentality.

In December 2007, the University of Maryland student newspaper, The Diamondback, reported a significant upswing in the number of thefts from UMD dining halls.

In a one-day test, UMD Dining Services closely tracked the sales and inventory of several popular items at the dining hall and discovered that more than $600 worth of chicken sandwiches and burgers were stolen.

That’s about $18,000 a month and possibly more than $200,000 a year – more than enough pay for four years of out-of-state tuition at UMD.

According to The Diamondback, the university is taking the problem seriously and is considering installing surveillance cameras and other new security features in the dining halls.

At Pitt’s new Market Central dining facility, no such analysis of the theft situation has been conducted, but some Sodexho employees admit that theft in the dining halls is a major concern.

The director of operations for Sodexho did not want to comment on the frequency of theft at Market Central or on any possible steps that Sodexho is taking to prevent it.

“Our concern is that any information would actually make the problem worse by giving students new ideas,” he said.

According to Jodi Ludovici of Sodexho Campus Services, theft of items from the dining halls by students is not considered a major problem, but is considered a serious crime when it does occur.

“It is a cost shared by everyone,” Ludovici said, and when one student steals they are taking away from the students who pay for a dining plan.

But even though Sodexho officials say that theft is not a problem, there are a few students who might be taking advantage of their attitude toward the issue.

One Pitt sophomore, who did not wish to reveal his name, said it’s not unusual for him to walk out of Market Central with a few plates or a handful of silverware slipped into his backpack.

A cashier in Market Central started to explain how receipts don’t always add up at the end of the day and that she sometimes sees students walk out with items they don’t pay for, but she was cut off by a supervisor who rushed over and told her she was not permitted to talk to the press.

Ludovici said she believes most Pitt students are honest and do not steal from the dining halls. She also stated how unfortunate is it that most students do not realize how severe of a crime they are committing.

Pitt police spokesman Ron Bennett said that he is not aware that theft in the dining halls is a major issue.

He said the Pitt police are usually only contacted by dining services when students steal Pitt ID cards and try to use someone else’s meal plan.

According to Bennett, there has been no occasion where Pitt police have caught a student in the act of stealing from the dining halls, but if they did, the punishment would be the same as it would be for stealing from anywhere else, he said.

Pitt sophomore Rebecca Lustig said she has not known many people to steal from the dining halls.

“The most I see is someone walking out with a piece of fruit or a muffin.”

Ludovici said that the problem of theft has been brought to the attention of Sodexo Campus services and they are “taking appropriate measures to combat the situation without affecting service.”

She could not comment on any specific security measures and said that doing so could give possible thieves an advantage.