At the start of Fall Quarter 2024, The Muir Quarterly, UC San Diego’s satire print newspaper, learned that the University intends to repossess its current office space as part of John Muir College’s 2018 commuter lounge expansion project. The MQ would instead move to the Muir College Student Leadership Office, a shared conference space that student organizations can reserve for free.
Since 2010, The MQ’s office has been a room in Muir, near the El Portal Commuter Lounge. There, the organization hosts meetings, produces the paper, and provides a communal space for staff members. Though The MQ has known since 2021 that the University had vague designs to repossess its space, the plans were not confirmed until earlier this year.
As The MQ prepares for the potential loss of its space, its staff members are working to find new ways to support each other and maintain community. Staffers have not yet given up on the hope that it may be able to keep its office, especially Theo Erickson, the current editor-in-chief of The MQ.
“For many people, The MQ is like the only place at this university that has felt like home to them,” Erickson said. “While we’re talking about what’s the best way to use space to serve students … I would encourage people to see The MQ office as more than an amount of space … but also the intangible community that I like to think we give.”
Several editors listed out the benefits of an office space: a place to gather for meetings, somewhere to store papers before they’re distributed to protect them from sun or rain damage, and a physical location for potential members to spot and reach out to for information. But, above all, for many, the office space serves as a representation of The MQ’s evolution and growth.
The office walls are covered with memorabilia, from annual photos of the editors to references to past issues. The office also holds an archive of past print issues, allowing members to both reminisce and reference past work during their creation process. Erica Rosslee, an MQ social and publicity editor, described the significance of the space.
“It has this sense of history,” Rosslee said. “It makes it feel as though our org … isn’t just some random thing — it has touched so many people’s lives. And people have been doing silly things at UCSD for a really long time. And so it’s nice being able to see that.”
Ezra Bihis, a graphics editor for The MQ, commented on the value that the progression of editor photos holds.
“You can really see how the diversity within our club has expanded over time since its inception, and you can see how it’s grown both in numbers and in diversity,” Bihis said. “You can really see throughout the space how The MQ evolved in order to respond to what was happening in the world around us over time, and being able to see this all in one space is really a beautiful thing.”
The MQ publishes its paper monthly, featuring pointed articles, photoshopped graphics, and hours of work from The MQ’s staff. The MQ office uses several important tools to create the end product, including a high quality printer and computers with Adobe licenses. Erickson described the importance of these tools.
“Having computers that belong to the org has been pretty important for reducing barriers of access,” Erickson explained. “We’ve had editors in the past … [whose computers] were not powerful enough to run the programs needed to do web work. And it’s like, we try to be as inclusive as possible. And this is one way that the office helps us be as inclusive as possible.”
Erickson also emphasized the importance of operational space with a printer for its monthly productions, where the staff finalizes edits on articles and designs the paper. They frequently print out article drafts to mark them up physically and collaborate on layouts, allowing them to get a better feel for what the final product will look like.
“We’re creating a print product,” Erickson said. “So it helps a lot to see it, like actually physically.”
Although The MQ would keep these assets after moving spaces, it would need to safeguard them from misuse by other students who have equal access to the space. Erickson mentioned concerns over the printer being used liberally by other organizations, despite The MQ footing the bill for the ink. This concern, among many others, is part of the reasons why editors still hope the decision can be undone.
Established in 1988, The MQ has become well-known for its satirical print content. Satire isn’t limited to the bounds of accuracy in reporting; instead, it uses exaggeration and wit to draw attention to key issues and topics.
“Satire is a tool to get people talking about real things that are happening in a way that’s not just reading about it on the news,” said Amit Roth, The MQ’s head graphics editor. “Especially now, a lot of people are keeping up to date out of obligation, and it’s very taxing, or it has been for me. And dressing criticisms, because there are lots of criticisms, in comedy … lets us share in what we know to be true, and what the government is not doing, just to point to one source of criticism on our minds recently.”
Bihis emphasized the importance of satire as a way to express himself.
“As a first-year student and also as a Filipino student, also as a queer student, I know what it’s like to not be heard out and not to be taken seriously,” Bihis said. “Having The MQ as an outlet means a lot to me. Even though it’s satirical, you still reach people, you still get to be perceived and noticed in the public eye.”
The planned renovation of the Muir Commuter Lounge would completely change the space as it exists now. Jason Thibodeaux, the Muir dean of Student Affairs, noted that the expansion would add windows and a new entrance.
Thibodeaux explained that the goal of this project is to allow more students to have a space for studying and spending time on campus.
“We needed to expand the size of the lounge to better serve all of our students,” Thibodeaux said.
The Muir provost’s office did not respond to requests for an interview.
Upon the confirmation of the office renovation plan, The MQ staff attempted to gather data on the number of students in El Portal. According to their count, the lounge has never reached greater than 50% capacity, causing them to question the actual need for expansion — a concern they presented to the Muir College Council.
“We understand the want for more student space,” Rosslee said. “We support that, except for the fact that no one is using the space.”
Roth sees the loss of The MQ office as a sign of the administration continuously deprioritizing student organizations’ physical spaces on campus as a part of its constant expansion.
The MQ staff expressed concerns over whether or not convincing the administration otherwise was still possible. Even in the face of possible inevitability, Rosslee commented on her hopes for The MQ’s future.
“The idea of losing the office makes it sort of feel as though somehow we’re going to be the ones who lose the org,” Rosslee said. “[But] we aren’t going to give up, and we’re going to keep going. Regardless of if we don’t have our office, we’ll find a way to do it, even if it’s not the same as it was. I think my hope is that we can be adaptable and just keep going, regardless of the [intra]-university politics.”
