Students eating at Holloway Commons (HoCo) this week may have noticed new dark blue drinking cups in lieu of the former corrugated ones after UNH Hospitality Services purchased more than 3,000 cups to be distributed only throughout the specific dining hall.

According to HoCo’s Area Manager Deborah Scanlon, the switch was made to give students a sturdier cup to drink from.

“The other cups have a tendency to break much easier,” Scanlon said. “Sometimes there would be big cracks; sometimes they would be small, but they would leak, making it an inconvenience for students, so we decided to move to a more durable cup.”

As of last semester, HoCo staff was forced to borrow drinking cups from Phillbrook and Stillings Dining Halls to supply students with the appropriate amount for their dining experience.

“We are being fiscally responsible and have packed the old cups and shipped them to Stillings and Phillbrook to be used there,” Scanlon said.

UNH Hospitality Services plans on using the cups at the other dining halls until they break, at which point UNH Hospitality Services will then switch to the newer ones.

It is expected that this switch will be much more cost-effective for the dining hall, considering the amount of cups that will be saved.

The 12 ounce cups, which are in fact the same size as the previous ones, have brought mixed reactions to the dining hall.

Sophomore forestry major Jacob Todd believes that the new containers will be a nice addition to HoCo.

“They seem like they will last,” Todd said. “The new cups seem like they’re much more durable than the last ones. However, I wish they were 16 ounces so I could drink more liquid.”

Sophomore civil engineering student Grant Erickson was much more skeptical of the switch.

“I initially thought that the switch was a waste of money and plastic,” Erickson said. “But when I found out the cups are still being used at the other dining halls, I felt much better about it.”