By Kathryn Kelly ’19
About two weeks ago in the Upper Farinon dining hall, what was described by one witness as a slap fight between two employees may have resulted in the termination of both workers.
Associate Director of Lafayette College Public Safety Jeff Troxell confirmed that there was a fight in Upper, and public safety responded to the incident.
According to the witness, who wished to remain anonymous, two female employees exchanged blows in a quick, less than five-minute event.
“It must’ve been about 9:45 p.m. We were about to close. One girl slapped the other, the girl with the braids swung back at her, and everybody broke it up. It was over quickly,” the witness said.
“Blows were thrown,” the witness added. “She threw one, she threw one, and it was over. It wasn’t even a five minute event.”
According to the witness, no blood was drawn, no one was badly injured and surrounding employees were able to break up the brief fight. Both of the employees have since been terminated, the witness said.
“I don’t know what caused [the fight],” the witness added. “I just know it was an altercation between two employees that ended real quick.”
Public safety officers wrote up an incident report, but no charges were filed through the school and the incident was not reported in the crime log. This is because Bon Appetit, the company that employs the workers, decided to handle the incident internally, Troxell said.
An incident report is filed when there was no crime committed in a particular situation, Troxell said. It stands in contrast to offense reports, which are written when a crime, such as burglary or robbery, was committed, Troxell added.
Troxell said he could not reveal specifics of the incident report.
According to Employment Director of Human Resources Lisa Rex, employees working in dining services do not work for the college. Therefore, any internal investigation is handled solely by Bon Appetit.
Troxell said he was unaware whether the employees have been fired or not.
General Manager of Dining Services Sarah Fried did not respond for comment in time for deadline.
