Prabhav Pradeep, a third-year Middle of Muir Student Assistant — also known as a MOMer — is adjusting to the temporary space where the Middle of Muir Cafe has set up for the rest of the academic year. M.O.M.’s Cafe, a popular third space, has been nestled at the base of the Stewart Commons building for years. But due to construction, it has temporarily relocated to the Tamarack Apartments where John’s Market used to be. It’s certainly a lot smaller, and Pradeep’s getting used to that. What he hasn’t gotten used to is how quiet it is.
“I miss the rush,” Pradeep said. “I will say that there’s been a lot more rush in the past couple of weeks because school has started to pick up, but I wouldn’t say it’s again back to the same as what we once were.”
To keep up with an expected surge in the student population, ongoing construction around the center of John Muir College to rework Pines, Roots, and the building’s study lounges started in late March.
The project aims “to enhance the dining experience by optimizing space for improved functionality and efficiency while increasing seating capacity through more efficient furniture and layout strategies,” according to UC San Diego Planning, Design and Construction.
These changes also promise to optimize space and introduce new culinary concepts next Fall Quarter. When asked about the changes coming to Pines, Muir College Provost K. Wayne Yang expressed his enthusiasm for a boba station, Pacific cuisine, more community seating, restoration of the original skylights and outdoor balconies, and the addition of a new bathroom.
In the meantime, however, renovations to the 56-year-old building haven’t just pushed M.O.M’s Cafe out of place; they have also left the college’s multiuse rooms in permanent high demand, putting organizations like Muir’s Student Affairs’ office in a tight spot of their own.
One such room is the Mariposa Room — a multipurpose room open for lectures, student organizations, and one-off events — which is currently being used as an extension of M.O.M.’s Cafe’s setup.
“It’s made it a little harder to plan events just due to [M.O.M.’s Cafe] taking a relatively popular event spot,” second-year Michael Pieniaszek, a Muir Student Affairs intern, said to The UCSD Guardian. “Planning events around the construction has definitely been a learning curve, but I think all student affairs interns are great at adapting, and I’m sure we can all have major successes with the events that we want to plan.”
Second-year Joey Novello is one of many employees continuing his regular position at Sixth Market, now joined by student workers shuffled from Pines, Roots, and John’s Market into 64 Degrees and restaurants at Sixth College.
“[The construction] definitely inconveniences the workers that were originally at their markets because those students are now displaced to the other markets around campus,” Novello said. “[It] also affects coffee rushes because there’s now just one less place that people can order from, especially at 6 [p.m.]. Morning rushes are a lot more aggressive and fast paced, so it’s making our job a little more difficult.”
Novello said that he used to take early morning shifts, but wrangling the Muir additions to the Sixth Market’s staff has led to major scheduling changes. His first shift now begins at 6 p.m.
“You’re getting the same hours, same pay,” Novello said. “But [with] this change in schedule, it’s a little weird to try to adjust to working at different times of the week.”
Housing Dining Hospitality’s Strategic Plan for 2022-27 outlines goals to “incorporate staff across levels and units in decision making processes.” But Muir’s administration notified some students, like Pieniaszek, about the potential changes coming to Muir late Fall Quarter 2025, and others, like Pradeep, halfway through Winter Quarter 2026.
Pradeep expressed frustration with how the administration communicated this change to most student workers last quarter. He said he wishes the school would consult more broadly with students before making major decisions like these.
“You’re spending $3 million on a dining hall that was [already] great,” Pradeep said. “It could go into paying the workers fairly. … It could go into renovating the dorms which do need renovation; it could go into so many more facilities. [I felt there was] a very big lack of communication and a very big barrier to communication as to why this is happening. … It all just feels so unnecessary.”
Nonetheless, Pradeep plans to keep serving the community and hopes that M.O.M’s Cafe regulars continue to drop by.
“The people make the place,” Pradeep said. “No matter where we are, you know, if we’re out of, you know, Tamarack or if we’re again out of our main cafe, it’s the people that make the place.”
UPDATE 4/25: The first sentence was updated to correctly reflect Prabhav Pradeep’s job title.
