On March 17, 2021, Mills College President Beth Hillman announced (smirking): "Mills College will close, it will no longer grant degrees, but it may become an Institute. P.S. we are going to merge with UC Berkeley, maybe".*
On March 24, 2021, President Hillman announced "UC Berkeley will have 200 co-ed first year students living on the campus from this year on, as part of their Changemakers Program. We have been developing this deal for 4 years".*
On June 17, 2021, President Hillman announced "the deal with UC Berkeley is no longer viable. But, lucky for us, Northeastern wants to do a deal with us. We don't know anything about them or what their deal proposal is yet, but we know it's an amazing deal and nobody would be able to get a better deal"*
*or words to that effect
A few days later, the news silently slipped out from UC Berkeley that the "Changemakers" Program, estimated to bring millions of much-needed revenue to Mills College's operations, was no longer going to happen at Mills.
What now? The education media has identified that there is a massive money-making opportunity in onboarding woke critical thinkers from a majority minority liberal arts College into jobs in Greater Silicon Valley. Northeastern University has obviously identified that. The Save Mills Coalition has identified that.
So why can't President Hillman and the Board of Trustees see the same opportunity? "Oh, we already tried everything". Really? That's your best excuse?
Fortunately there are good people out there brave enough to stand up to this blatant corruption. Four of the members of the Mills College Board of Trustees have filed suit against 7 of the other members: President Beth Hillman, Board Chair Katie Sanborn, Trustees and Executive Committee members Marilyn Schuster, Eric Roberts and Ophelia Basgal, and College Officers Maria Cammarata (CFO) and Renee Jadushlever (COO) -as well as "Does 1 through 20", which suggests there may be more Defendants added to the list in the future.
You can download the full Complaint at the Internet Archive.
The plaintiffs have retained Greenberg Traurig, one of the top 20 law firms in the world, ranked #1 by number of attorneys in Best Lawyers in America:
Greenberg Traurig History
Some intriguing details are emerging already. Mills College's endowment was $189 million at the end of the last financial year and has now gone up to $206 million - a $17 million gain. How much was that deficit, again?
The $189 million is from FY20 audited financials: https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/financial-reports.php
It seems that the new endowment value of $206 million may actually be understated, perhaps dramatically so:
Stripe? Mills College has invested pre-IPO in what NASDAQ are calling the biggest stock market debut since Saudi Aramco's $1.8 trillion listing. That's Trillion with a T - and Stripe is already the #1 U.S. startup worth $95 billion, so that seems likely to be a huge return for Mills College even if they only invested in the most recent financing round.
Wonder what else they've invested in?
It sounds like President Hillman's St Patrick's Day announcement caught everybody by surprise - even the Board:
"Unexpectedly". It seems shutting down Mills College forever was just another item on the Consent Agenda, "glossed over" in the Board's discussions:
They authorized a plan to be developed for them to consider at a later date? That sure sounds different from "The Board of Trustees has decided that Mills College has to close forever beacuse COVID".
Here's a sample of Hillman's messaging from her media blitz:
The Complaint highlights significant discrepancies between "actions actually approved" by the Board and the public announcement:
President Hillman's "unexpected" actions caused widespread alarm and "wrongly told everyone...that the Board of Trustees...had made drastic and final decisions that they had never considered"
Which begs the question...why? Why announce the College is closing, then a week later announce 200 co-ed UCB first year undergraduates coming to live on campus...then a few weeks later announce the UCB deal is off and now it's Northeastern that's getting Mills? By the sound of it, this has all been done without the Board's knowledge or approval. Is President Hillman operating ultra vires?
Have they really been "considering all options"? What other options did they consider? Apparently it was not any of those that kept the College as it is and replaced the failed leadership.
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DISCUSSION OF INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST. PUBLIC COMMENTARY WELCOME. WE PROVIDE CITATIONS TO PRIMARY SOURCES, FOLLOW THE HYPERLINKS. ANY PERSON MENTIONED HERE IS INVITED TO SHARE THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY IN THE COMMENT SECTION. ALL IMAGES USED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES UNDER FAIR USE PROVISIONS OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT. WE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY ORGANIZED MILLS COLLEGE GROUP, BUT WE JOIN THEM ALL IN RESISTANCE TO ANY ATTEMPTED TAKEOVER.
SEE ALSO
1. Mills College is Worth Billions - Who Gets the Prize?
2. 135 Acres Worth Less than $300,000? College Owns Hundreds of Millions in Equities, Real Estate
3. We Got the Mills College Receipts - From the IRS
4. Mills College Financially "Very Healthy" With 100% Rating From Charity Navigator
5. Mills College 2017 Financial Stabilization Plan
6. Gasoline on the Burning Platform - Men to Live on Mills College Campus
7. UC Berkeley "Life and Death" Financial Crisis, How Can They Afford Mills College Problems Too?
8. Strong, Proud and Determined to Save the College We Love
9. Sue the Board - It Worked For Sweet Briar, Could It Work For Mills College?
10. Déjà Vu - Organized Faction of AAMC Pushing UC Merger Plan Similar to Board of Trustees
11. Mills College Leadership Caught Speechless by AAMC Resistance
12. Save Mills Coalition Steps Up, Hillman Administration Gets Voted Down
13. Mills College Community Stunned by Another Hillman Hand Grenade
14. The Art of the Steal 2.0 - Billion Dollar Black Holes From Barnes to Bender
15. Trustee vs Trustee - Mills College Board Members Sue For Transparency
16. F*CK YOUR INDEPENDENCE: Hillman Declares War Against Mills College Alumnae
17. White Supremacy Reigns in Mills College and Northeastern Boards
18. The Defendant Tells The Media About The Plaintiffs
19. Good News For Women's Colleges - Congratulations, Beth!
20. $25 Million To See The Books
21. "Damage So Severe The Community May Never Recover"
22. Desperate Defendants Finally Speak: Gaslighting Frenzy Before Court Monday
23. Failed Leadership Fakes Support With Fake Forum
24. Mills College Has $85 Million Without Restrictions, So Why Can't It Stay Independent?