Students describe scene as biggest morale-booster in past four years:

Cadets plan, carry out Harmon Hall food fight

By Justin Fitzgerald
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

At Norwich, all it takes at is a little bit of excitement in the mess hall to liven up the corps of cadets.

On the night of Oct. 9, food was flying everywhere in Harmon Hall during the only food fight anyone currently attending Norwich can remember.

The regimental commander claimed ignorance when asked if he had any prior knowledge of the pre-planned and heavily orchestrated college prank.

"I didn't know that there was going to be a food fight that evening," said Jacob Sotiriadis, 21, a senior international studies major and regimental commander of the NU Corps of Cadets. "I heard a rumor for about a week and a half that there was supposed to be a food fight. There are a lot of rumors that go around Norwich every single day, but we can't take every single rumor that we hear seriously."

Following the fight, witnesses such as Kyle Blakie, 21, a senior communications major from Greenport, N.Y., reported the scene as being reminiscent of a battlefield.

"It looked like the Battle of Gettysburg," Blaikie said. "Food was flying everywhere, and no one sat in the center. People picked sides and lined up around the outside perimeters of the mess hall."

Another equated it to a more modern urban war zone.

"It looked like a drug deal that had gone bad," one student said. "When that first table flipped, plates flew off and all I saw was legs flying from the top down. All I saw was chairs roll out, battle positions, units were forming up, battle lines had been already drawn, now the food was coming out."

After the food fight, which lasted less than two minutes, the doors were closed and every upperclassmen in the corps who had been involved, and several who had simply stood by, helped to clean up the mess.

The doors opened 20 minutes later and students started walking back to their dorms with smiles on their faces.

"It was the biggest morale booster that I've seen at Norwich," Blaikie said. "Everyone had a good time. They cleaned it up afterwards, and a good time was had by all."

"I think it gave us something to laugh at," said Valarie Solis, 19, a sophomore international studies major from San Antonio, TX.

At an 8 p.m. formation, Sotiriadis called on those responsible for orchestrating the fight to come forward. Those who did received six disciplinary tours that they were compelled to march during parents' weekend.

"I thought that I gave them a very fair punishment," said Sotiriadis. "Their tours were taken care of right away. It was quick. It was expedient. They didn't have to wait. I could have given them a much harsher punishment, but I chose not to do that, because I didn't believe that they were malicious; they didn't realize the scope of what they were doing."

The commandant's staff declined to comment on the food fight.

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