As the country grapples with deep social division and crisis upon crisis, Mills College simply cannot disappear just as the leaders it develops are most needed—to break barriers, to launch initiatives, to share bold visions for inclusion, to do the hard work. Mills is a Historically Women’s College. It currently serves women, non-binary and trans students at the undergraduate level, and graduate students of all genders.

*** And Because We Haven’t Seen Any Real Evidence That Mills Is In Financial Peril ***

​Mills College is financially viable and does not need to close. Its reaccreditation, audit, and public records prove this. 

Founded in 1852 as a Seminary dedicated to the betterment of women’s education and the first women’s college west of the Rockies in 1871, Mills has enhanced education in the western part of the United States for nearly 170 years through its mission of granting degrees, women’s leadership, education, gender and racial equity, social justice, and serving Californians and first-generation college students. Mills has consistently been ranked by leading publications as offering one of the best liberal arts educations in the West. Its alumnae include Congresswoman Barbara Lee, feminist Koa Beck, Academy Award winning actress Olivia de Havilland, dancer Molissa Fenley, musician Dave Brubeck, former Washington governor and the first woman to chair the Atomic Energy Commission Dixy Lee Ray, former California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, and others. Its faculty includes Attorney General Robert Bonta, scholar of 18th Century literature Kirsten T. Saxton, composer Darius Milhaud, artist Hung Liu, and others innumerable to list.

Mills began at a time when the idea of educating women was revolutionary.  During World War II, Mills ensured that its students of Japanese descent such as Grace Fujii Kikuchi ’42were able to graduate despite internment based on ethnic discrimination. In 1990 Mills College was the first and only college whose students, staff, faculty, and alumnae forced its Board of Trustees to reverse its decision to make the college co-ed.  In 2014, Mills became the first single-sex college in the United States to adopt an admissions policy that explicitly welcomed transgender students.

Despite its rich, nearly 170- year-old history and mission, on March 17, 2021, President Beth Hillman announced that the fall 2021 would be the last incoming class of first years and planned for the College to stop granting degrees in 2023. Further, Hillman announced an intention to devolve the College into an Institute without providing any plan or evidence that such an entity would be financially viable. Her decision was made without input from Mills’ many stakeholders such as alumnae, students, faculty, and staff. Stakeholders have never been provided feasibility studies or included in conversations for alternatives paths forward. Hillman’s actions have created inexcusable pain for stakeholders.

Hillman has proved unreliable in providing answers to even the most basic of questions. She was unable to provide studies or reports as to what is required to keep the College solvent, giving answers that range from approximately $6.2 million per year, to $1 billion. Hillman also demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding of California’s higher education systems when she claimed that an alumnae-led proposal for a standalone, self-governed “University of California, Mills” would not work because, she claimed, an unknown person at the Berkeleycampus told her so. Such a proposal would have to be addressed at a system-wide level by the UC Office of the President and ultimately the Regents.

Hillman has proved incapable of open communication and transparency.  She has refused the requests of the Board of Governors to meet with Trustees to discuss the future of Mills College, creating an unnecessary rift between her administration and alumnae, the primary source of donations to the College. She has left faculty out of the plans for her institute proposal, rejecting the shared governance model valued by generations. She has also ignored requests by alumnae and faculty for documents, studies, and reports to support her policies. She edited the most recent town hall to erase her ignominious exit and the applause of alumnae for the call for transparency by AAMC Vice President Alexa Pagonas. She refused calls for a dialogue with the Board of Trustees, flagrantly lying that trustees cannot speak to governors, when trustee Marilyn Schuster requested a meeting with governors only four days later. She later agreed to “listening only” sessions with the Board of Trustees to avoid actual discussion, turned off the chat box to prevent alumnae from communicating with each other during the session, and scheduled it at a time of day when most stakeholders would be unable to attend. While students, faculty, and alumnae have been eager to assist the College, Hillman has treated these critical stakeholders as people to isolate, ignore, and treat with disdain.

Beth Hillman has proven herself incapable of leading Mills College. Hillman’s responsibility when hired was to continue Mills College as a degree granting college, not to end it.  She has failed. We have no confidence in her leadership or decision making, nor any faith that her policies to end the College and devolve to an institute are either informed or financially viable. The Board of Trustees should terminate Beth Hillman’s employment, and immediately begin a search for an interim president who will uphold the mission of the College, and work with the Mills College alumnae, staff, faculty, and students in a collaborative manner.