Frances Walton ’26 and Clara Ann Bagnoli ’28
Editor-in-Chief and Design Editor
On Feb. 26, Stacey Miller, Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Motley Coffeehouse advisor, announced to the Co-Head Managers that the Scripps administration had decided to change her title from advisor to supervisor starting summer 2026. As of March 26, Miller had not officially communicated to the Motley Co-Heads how this title change would affect her responsibilities.
The Motley has a longstanding tradition of being a completely student-run and operated business, with the AVPSA acting in an advisory role. The current advisor role is to act as a liaison and facilitate communication between the administration and student leaders. It remains unclear what new capabilities a supervisor will have or how it will function in relation to the student-run managerial team.
“[Miller] really framed it as the college thinking that we need more support as students in running this business, which I really disagree with,” a Co-Head Manager said. The manager requested anonymity due to concerns for their future employment. “I feel like, for a long time, students have run this business independently, and I think we’ve done a pretty successful job.”
Some baristas and managers felt that the new supervisor role, which was announced without any input from the managers or baristas, was intended to limit the Motley’s autonomy as a student-run space, especially given the Scripps administration’s decision in September 2024 to abruptly close the coffeehouse and pause student employment last year in response to the coffeehouse displaying a Palestinian flag.
“It really feels like a punishment, even though it’s been expressed to us that it’s not a punishment … like we did something wrong and now we have to have more oversight,” the Co-Head said. “It just feels like we’re losing … our autonomy and losing what the Motley has always been, which is a completely student-run space, and even the word switch from advisor to supervisor feels kind of insulting, in a way.”
Miller verbally explained to managers that, as a supervisor, her role would not impact the day-to-day operations of the coffeehouse. The Motley employees interviewed by The Scripps Voice prior to March 27 understood that one of the only tangible changes to the role would be Miller’s presence in more managerial and all-staff meetings.
One first-year barista, Iva Ekmecic ’29, noted that the lack of information surrounding the supervisor role was concerning for the future independence of the Motley.
“I am feeling a little bit uneasy about it just because there’s just so much broadness in the role … it just wasn’t very concrete her role or the actions that she could take or not take,” Ekmecic said.
Miller, in an email to The Scripps Voice, explained how the new supervisor role would differ from that of an advisor.
“The Motley and the Scripps Store already have established operational policies and procedures, and are empowered to modify, change, and create new ones. A supervisor’s role is to ensure that the modification or creation of new policies and procedures align with College policies and procedures, California state law, and best practices for auxiliary units of their type and size,” Miller wrote.
Some feel that Scripps College was motivated to make the change to mitigate legal risk, as mentions of the Motley Coffeehouse, including their posting of the Palestinian flag, were mentioned throughout the Feb. 25, 2025 complaint filed by The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law, Anti-Defamation League, and the law firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Regardless of the reason for the change, Motley managers and baristas expressed concern about the business’s status as a student-run operation. Alex Meecham ’27, a manager at the Motley, mentioned that the coffeehouse continues to be marketed in admissions content as a student-run business.
“[Miller has] been very clear that she doesn’t want to be involved with anything day-to-day [to the point] that she thinks that the Motley can still be seen or advertised as a student-run or student-led coffee shop,” Meecham said. “We’re really proud of being student-run … and that draws a lot of people to Scripps. The Motley is a big selling point for Scripps, and it doesn’t feel right to have that be a marketing tactic without also acknowledging that we are no longer the same kind of student-run that we were, that we now have a supervisor, that it wasn’t our choice.”
All tours highlight the Motley as a student-run business and note the unique opportunity for students to learn to run a coffeehouse without administrative intervention. During the coffeehouse’s closure, 13 student admissions ambassadors signed a statement in support of the Motley and incorporated conversations about the administration’s limitations on student expression into their tours.
“There aren’t very many schools in the country where you can run a business while in school, and you learn so much.” the co-head said. “To think that with each and every year, they are changing the fundamental structure of the Motley, and they are hindering the autonomy of the people who run the Motley … if I was a prospective student now, looking at where I was wanting to go to college, hearing about what they’re doing to the Motley, I would look elsewhere, because it’s very clear that they’re directly undercutting one of their biggest assets.”
Photo by Kate Prince ’29
