A dispute over who controls the walls at The Motley Coffeehouse came to a head Friday: after a Nov. 10 email from Scripps gave the student-run cafe two choices—hang American and Israeli flags at the same size and prominence as the Palestinian flag already on display, or remove all flags—90% of staff voted to take them all down, the coffeehouse said. The flags were removed.
The Motley described the decision in a same-day Instagram post, according to The Student Life. The coffeehouse said neither option aligned with its mission statement or community consensus, and that staff jobs were at risk if it did not comply with the decorations policy.
The Palestinian and Ukrainian flags had been hanging in The Motley earlier this semester, and the coffeehouse's post said both were displayed in accordance with its decorations policy and mission statement, per the same account. The Motley is student-run but college-owned, a distinction that has repeatedly shaped how much authority Scripps administrators claim over what hangs on its walls.
A Policy Written Just Months Ago
The decoration policy at the center of the dispute was co-authored with Scripps administrators and authorized by College President Amy Marcus-Newhall in February 2026, The Student Life reported. It says the walls of The Motley, apart from the blackboard, should reflect the coffeehouse’s commitments to intersectional feminism, community engagement and artistic expression, with decisions guided by its mission statement and values.
The policy also lays out a process: if Scripps interprets a wall decoration as a violation or a legal risk, it must notify Motley staff, specifying the offending decor, the nature of the violation, and the requested changes. Any changes or removals are supposed to be collectively discussed and then approved by more than 50% of The Motley's baristas and management team, per the same account.
In a statement to The Student Life, the Motley's student co-heads said Scripps had exercised its authority over the coffeehouse only in matters involving Palestinian speech. They described what they called a “Palestine exception” as part of a broader pattern in domestic and international conversations, rather than something new to The Motley or unique to Scripps.
More Than Two Years of Friction Over the Same Flag
The Student Life's reporting places this latest flashpoint within more than two years of tensions rooted in display policy between The Motley and the Scripps administration, largely centered on the Palestinian flag. That history stretches back to September 2024, when Scripps administration emailed Motley management demanding it promptly remove any unauthorized signage, decorations, flags, posters, or other materials. A Scripps interim special assistant's email at the time stated plainly that the Motley is college owned and the flag must come down ASAP.
The coffeehouse kept the Palestinian flag up anyway for its September 2024 opening. The Motley held its inaugural opening-night party on Sept. 13, 2024, with the Palestinian flag still hanging on its wall, and officially opened three days later. Accounts of the solidarity gathering that followed differ: The Student Life reported that more than 150 students gathered at The Motley at 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2024, while The Scripps Voice put the figure at approximately 160 or more members of the 5C community. Scripps Senior Communications Manager Emily Peters said at the time that college staff were continuing to engage in conversation with Motley managers to maintain an inclusive and welcoming space.
An Earlier Reopening Dispute
An Earlier Reopening Dispute The Motley's reopening in November 2024 was its own saga. Scripps College said the coffeehouse reopened on Nov. 5 with food and beverage service beginning the following week, after Motley student staff, along with Dr. Sha Bradley and Dr. Deborrah Hebert, took part in restorative conversations about a path forward. The college also corrected an earlier message, saying Motley student staff had not actually refused to meet with Business Affairs personnel, and said it had continued paying Motley staff throughout the closure, acknowledging it should have communicated that sooner.
Scripps said it shared documentation describing the college's legal exposure and obligations, along with options for reopening, and that based on that information, Motley student staff collectively decided to remove décor from the walls except for a permanent quilt installation. That earlier compromise set the stage for this week's flags-only showdown. Separately, a January 2024 report in Claremont Undercurrents said Scripps dean Adriana di Bartolo-Beckman cited students who felt unsafe in The Motley due to pro-Palestine posters, and that Scripps had required fliers to be submitted for approval with a student contact email attached.
Part of a Wider Pattern, Advocacy Groups Say
The dispute also sits within a wider debate over campus speech restrictions. The Claremont COURIER discussed a 2026 report by Amnesty International USA and the ACLU on restrictions affecting pro-Palestinian speech and student activism, including at Scripps.
What the National Report Documented
The ACLU and Amnesty International USA say their two-year investigation covered events at 46 public and 34 private college and university campuses in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Its Scripps example was an order for students to remove Palestinian flags from The Motley’s walls, according to the ACLU and Amnesty International USA report.
For now, the walls that once displayed the Palestinian and Ukrainian flags sit empty, a visible marker of a policy fight that has outlasted multiple semesters as a new decorations policy is being finalized.
