The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News April 28, 2006

This Week in Oberlin History

Apparently April has never been Pyle Inn’s lucky month. In 1999, Pyle Inn was actually shut down temporarily — not as the result of faulty equipment, but the advent of a mysterious rodent of an unusual size.

–The News Team

Oberlin in History
April 30, 1999

An animal as big as a house cat was spotted at Pyle Inn Co-op Monday, giving the custodial staff something to rat about. The suspected rat was reported to Residential Life at around 8 a.m. Monday resulting in a 24-hour closure of the Pyle Inn.

“It was really the only choice given the considerations,” said operations manager first-year Ben Newton.

When Pyle Inn Dining Loose Ends Coordinator Rachael Keast was notified of the problem around 9 a.m. that morning, she and five other Pyle Inn Co-op members cleaned the kitchen for about four hours. The College had already decided to close the Co-op, however, and required the Co-op to hire a professional cleaning service for the day.

“They cleaned mostly the problem areas, like behind the stove,” Murray said.

After the cleaner, an exterminator was brought in to assess the situation. According to Murray, the verdict is still out about whether there are vermin or not.

This was a first-time experience for Murray, but he said that the decisions made were common across the board. “Since I’ve been here this has been unique, but everybody was pretty much on the same page as to what should be done,” Murray said.

Pyle Inn Co-opers were less convinced.

“First of all, there is no rat. There was no rat,” Keast said. “I was just annoyed always. At all times I remained annoyed. I still remain annoyed.”

Keast felt the Co-op kitchen was not in poor condition and that shutting it down was unnecessary. “I really don’t think it was a problem,” she said.

She laughed when she was told of the evidence that a rat had been in the kitchen. “They said there was evidence of rats because there was partially eaten bread. That’s evidence of co-opers!”

The exterminator will report back to the College about the vermin situation next week.


 
 
   

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