Connecticut College News

On April 1, Patrick Corbett ´09, Harris Rosenheim ´09, Andrew Carlin ´09 and Evan Abrams ´12 created a reenactment of the ´Steak and Lobster dinner´ in Harris Refectory. The traditional ´Steak and Lobster dinner´ was an annual Harris event canceled this year because of budgetary restraints in Dining Services. In order to recreate the dinner, the group gathered all of its typical components: lobsters (prepared by a chef at Harris), bibs (homemade out of plastic bags), place mats (printer paper taped together), a large bucket for lobster shells and detailed directions on how to eat a lobster (printed off the internet). It was the group´s intent to pretend it was the ´Lobster dinner´ in Harris as an April Fool´s Day joke. Confusion arose when students asked about the purpose of their special meal. The four told inquiring students that it was ´Lobster dinner´ in Harris. However, other speculation and alternative reasons for the dinner spread. Several students were alarmed or offended by the sight of four white male students eating lobster in the dining hall. They believed the dinner was a demonstration of ´white privilege´ because of the expense of lobster and the race of the individuals eating it. Corbett said, "some students thought the intent of this dinner was to show that we represented the wealthiest, top four percent of the world, showing off white supremacy. However, this was not our intent. We never intended to send any political messages." Loretta Vereen ´12 expressed her view of the dinner on Facebook, "I know its April fools, but whoever thought it would be a joke to have ´white privilege´ portrayed through 4 guys eating lobsters in Harris to upset minorities needs to come see me!...think it´s a joke...?" Jazmin Long ´12 also made it known on Facebook that she "never felt so disappointed to call myself a Connecticut College student as I have today. People need to think before they act. Lobster Dinner." As a result of the controversy that transpired, concerned students attended the SGA assembly meeting the following night. Corbett, Rosenheim, and Abrams, all SGA members, were present for the discussion. This open forum addressed criticism of their actions and lasted over two hours. Rosenheim said, "after having heard all of the statements and arguments that were said at SGA´s meeting this past Thursday, we understood their [the concerned students] viewpoints which we were not aware of beforehand." "We didn´t agree on every detail about the dinner and the aftermath of the dinner, but we feel like voicing where we differ on these issues is really important. It´s part of starting a process of having an open and honest conversation…about racism and classism on campus," said Abrams. Patrick Corbett said, "We felt bad that we had caused [the concerned students] to feel that way like they had been slighted or things of that nature, and we apologized for the unintended consequences of the dinner." In addition, Patrick Corbett believed the strong reactions to the dinner shows "there´s a discussion here on campus that needs to take place about race and class that´s not [happening] because there´s obviously a lot of anger there that´s not being addressed." In an effort to prevent events like this from happening in the future, the Student Government Association spent time figuring out ways to implement new programs to facilitate candid and honest conversations about race during the year and also during freshman orientation. SGA, including the members of the ´Lobster dinner,´ have started to collaborate with individuals involved in planning events to promote racial and socio-economic issues. They hope these events will help to change the way Connecticut College tackles these issues.<

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Amy Martin, 860-439-2526, a.martin@conncoll.edu or Deborah MacDonnell (860) 439-2504, dmacdonn@conncoll.edu