Scripps administration shuts down Motley Coffeehouse

The Scripps College administration shut down its student-run Motley Coffeehouse on Saturday, Oct. 5, citing concerns about an “unwelcoming atmosphere” and the restriction of free speech within the space. The coffeehouse, which has received backlash from administration in recent weeks for its pro-Palestinian political organizing, will be closed until further notice.

“We did not arrive at this decision lightly, as we recognize the Motley’s centrality as a cherished campus hub for community engagement and entrepreneurial experience,” Scripps President Amy Marcus-Newhall wrote in an email to the Scripps community Saturday morning. “It is our aim to preserve the feminist and intersectional ethos that has shaped the Motley’s culture and ensure that it also embodies the spirit of access and inclusion we strive to create on Scripps’ campus.”

Marcus-Newhall cited several factors that led the administration to close the Motley. She claimed that Motley managers had ignored requests about the coffeehouse’s visual materials, refused to attend meetings with the college’s Business Affairs team and closed the space for political purposes.

But the Motley barista team denied each of these claims in an Oct. 9 statement released to the Scripps student body.

They also highlighted the impact of the abrupt closure on the Motley’s 50 employees, some of whom are work-study or low-income students and rely on their employment as a “financial lifeline.”

While Marcus-Newhall told TSL that employees will be paid for the next two weeks and that the Office of Human Resources has offered to place students in other positions on campus, Motley team members said that this financial support was not offered until days after the coffeehouse’s unprecedented closure.

They added that the Motley’s current decorations — including a Palestinian flag that administration asked managers to take down last month — are appropriate in the “inherently political space” that the Motley has historically been. According to Scripps’ Guide to Student Life, the Motley has been an intersectional, political and feminist business since its establishment in 1974.

“We understand that the College owns the business,” team members wrote in the Oct. 9 statement. “However, it is essential to recognize that the Motley has always been a student-initiated and administered space that uplifts the voices of marginalized peoples to meet the current moment.”

Motley team members also questioned Marcus-Newhall’s calls for inclusivity, arguing that administration had at no point specified how certain decorations created an un-inclusive environment.

“To be clear, we reject the premise that displaying a Palestinian flag is inherently unwelcoming to any students, including Jewish students,” their statement reads. “Centering marginalized voices, particularly global communities of color, remains integral to our mission of building an anti-racist intersectional feminist space.”

The Motley barista team is far from alone in its condemnation of the administration’s actions, with numerous students and at least 19 community groups — including Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine, Pomona Divest from Apartheid and Scripps Associated Students (SAS), among several others — taking to social media to express their solidarity with the coffeehouse.

SAS also organized a station in the Scripps Student Union for community members to express their support for the Motley workers. The station, entitled “Hearts 4 Motley,” has writing utensils and paper hearts available for those who choose to participate.

Scripps professor Marina Perez de Mendiola criticized the college’s actions in an email to TSL.

“In the 26 years that I have been at [Scripps], I don’t think that the Motley has been subjected to this level of egregious censorship,” she wrote. “The fact that this particular community space is being targeted today for being ‘non inclusive,’ shows [Scripps’] selective, strategic, and misguided deployment of ‘inclusivity.’” 

She added that the suspension is contrary to the college’s values.

“By closing the Motley, [Scripps] radically undermines the basic principle of freedom of expression and, as importantly, deprives OUR students of their very much needed income to finance their studies,” Perez de Mendiola wrote. “Students should not have to choose between their right to freely express themselves personally and as a collective and the right to work without fear.”

The Motley will reopen as soon as the college establishes “viable working protocols,” according to Newhall.