Earlier this week, Columbia University's dining services had us riveted with accusations regarding the student body's rampant, plunderous Nutella consumption. But it turns out these Columbia kids are maybe not so great with numbers, because according to a statement put out by the administration yesterday, Nutella-gate's not even a tenth as costly as previously reported.
It was reported in the Columbia Spectator (CANCEL OUR SUBSCRIPTION!) that students were eating $5,000 worth of hazelnut spread a week, and that the school expected to spend $250,000 on Nutella this year at that continued rate. But Columbia says that while Nutella's initial presence in the dining halls led to a widespread spread-eating frenzy, after the first three or four days the school was only spending about $450-a-week on the condiment, which, by their calculations, is not an unreasonable expenditure. "Ironically the media attention to Nutella-gate has cut down on the amount people have been taking in recent days," the statement, which was also published in the Spectator, said.
Apparently, the inflated Nutella numbers came from student council member Peter Bailinson, who said he heard them from Dining Services director Vicki Dunn, who may or may not have heard them from that guy who's hooking up with that girl Abby in Orgo 2. The Spectator published the feature, which was picked up by national media like the Times, and from there things just sort of snowballed, it seems. Luckily, though, the Nutella-gate flames have died down, and we can all go back to blissfully ignoring the things that are published in student newspapers.
