At 7:44 a.m. on Oct. 5, Vassar Associate Dean of the College for Campus Activities Dennis Macheska notified the student body via email that Gordon Commons would not open at 8 a.m. as scheduled. Macheska wrote that the closure was caused by a significant water leak, adding, “Gordon Commons will remain closed until we can repair the leak and clean up the water.” He directed students to dine at The Retreat instead, which would open at 9 a.m. In a follow up email a little less than an hour later, Macheska wrote that in addition to The Retreat, the Street Eats food truck would open shortly as well as the normally scheduled Express; he noted that students could also use their Arlington bucks to purchase food in the nearby neighborhood, but that Gordon Commons remained closed. Macheska sent his last email of the day a little after 1 p.m., informing students that Gordon Commons would open at 4 p.m.
In his final email, Macheska offered students a little more information on the leak that had closed Gordon Commons for eight hours: “Gordon Commons has been restored from excessive water damage that appears to have been caused by an intentional act of vandalism.” It was further noted that the vandalism was believed to have been committed the night before, on Oct. 4.
In a co-authored email to The Miscellany News, Macheska and Assistant Vice President for Facilities Operations Maxine Coleman elaborated on the extent of the leakage. “The leak originated in one of the third floor restrooms,” they wrote. “The water spread from the third floor through the basement including the main kitchen.” They added the leak was identified in the kitchen around 6 a.m. on Oct. 5; an investigation revealed its origins to be the third-floor restrooms. “The leak started during late night on or around 12am on Saturday, October 5th,” wrote Macheska and Coleman.
In their responses to questions from The Miscellany News, Macheska and Coleman did not allude to prior flooding in the Gordon Commons dish room caused by an undersized drainpipe. The Oct. 5 leak originated in the dining hall’s third-floor restrooms and then spread to the kitchen. It is unclear whether or not there is a connection between the two incidents. Additionally, the prior flooding in the dish room was due to facilities failures and is not known to be under investigation for vandalism.
Macheska and Coleman wrote of the extensiveness of the leakage, “We brought in a company who specializes in property clean up after a flood to extract the water, disinfect the areas impacted and dry out the area.” According to Macheska and Coleman, because lunch preparation was already underway at The Retreat and Street Eats by the time the cleaning process was complete, Dining Services felt it made more sense to wait until a natural break in dining activity to switch operations back to Gordon Commons. The result was the dining hall remaining closed until 4 p.m.
Sadie Bakken-Durchslag ’28 recalled the morning of Oct. 5: “I saw the email, and I was filled with deep sadness. That was a heartbreaking day for me. I really wanted tea and I really wanted food and I couldn’t get it.” She added that she bought breakfast in Arlington instead.
Campus Security’s investigation into the act of vandalism is still ongoing as of Oct. 9, according to Macheska and Coleman, limiting the amount of information they were able to publicly provide. No responsible individuals have been identified and anyone with information is requested to contact Campus Security directly. Despite not giving details of the incident, Macheska and Coleman wrote, “The nature of the leak could have only been caused by an intentional act.” A Gordon Commons employee who requested anonymity explained that the toilets in the third-floor restroom had been deliberately clogged and then flushed, presumably by a student, leading to the flooding. The material used for the clogging was not specified. “There are no assumptions or hypotheses regarding a motive to the incident,” wrote Macheska and Coleman.
Bakken-Durchslag noted that she found the incident funny. “Because I’m just like, who’s vandalizing the Deece [Gordon Commons] to flood it?” she said. Leo Kogan ’28 expressed similar confusion, “I’m just questioning, what were the intentions?”
The flooding did not cause significant damage to Gordon Commons or its equipment and there are no long-term impacts of the incident. “Facilities will be making some changes to the equipment and Dining Services has incorporated new processes for dining managers to help to prevent situations like this in the future,” noted Macheska and Coleman. It was not mentioned whether these equipment changes were also related to prior flooding. In earlier reporting by The Miscellany News, previous measures to reduce daily flooding in the Gordon Commons dish room were described as temporary by a Gordon Commons employee.
This is a developing story.