King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani and the future Queen Liliuokalani made visits to Mills College in California in the late 19th century including the first royal visit from any country to the United States.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Mills College.
We should be celebrating 170 years of the independence of Mills College, surviving world wars, pandemics, great depressions, and attempts to make the school co-ed. Instead we are fighting for Mills' very survival, as outside forces with East Coast connections try to absorb this precious jewel from behind a smokescreen of questionable narratives.
We call those trying to force Mills to close The Cabal. Though powerful, they are old, and there are very few of them. A dozen or so long-term trustees, many with links to other universities. Captain Hillman and her college officer corporals. Nine of these people are now being sued, with potentially another 20 defendants still to be named.
Standing in their way? The resistance. 26,000+ alumnae. 16 Mills College alums are on the Board of Trustees, but 4 are there specifically to protect the interests of the Alumnae. It is those 4 who have sued 7 (so far) of the 18 cabal members.
You can download the full Complaint at the Internet Archive.
See also 15: Trustee vs Trustee: MIlls College Board Members Sue For Transparency
NORTHEASTERN AND HILLMAN PROMISE THE WORLD
Despite faculty and staff's recent Vote of No Confidence in President Hillman, she seems to be trying to seduce some of them her side with promises of pay rises and "an end to these difficult times" (that she takes no responsibility for). Most are too smart to fall for such obvious political pandering.
Northeastern University has higher admissions standards than Mills, charges higher tuition, pays more, and teaches a different set of courses to a different set of students. Rich, white, fraternities and sororities churning out drones for the military-industrial complex. They are run by business people as a successful business, and therefore we should expect that they will continue to make analytical businesslike decisions determined primarily by profit and loss. That's gotta be good for low student-teacher ratio liberal arts colleges, right?
What does Northeastern see in Mills? Well, if you believe President Hillman, it's the really the great teachers and students and alumnae, the academic programs. That's their main concern. It's definitely not billions of dollars in land or billions more in art. Hey, they have students in WeWork, they don't need a 135 acre campus full of spectacular buildings!
Maybe it's the Mills Institute that Northeastern cares about. A beacon of women's leadership and racial justice, absorbed in their web site amongst the 56 other institutes and centers - including at least three that are already dedicated to racial and gender justice: Institute on Race and Justice, Institute of Health, Equity and Social Justice, Center for Inclusive Computing.
If any Mills faculty or staff are reading this and ready to give Mills away for pay-rises that only exist in your mind...don't sellout your self or the rest of us. Your know your job would be toast as soon as the ink dried on this proposed deal. Join the resistance and let's stop this madness.
We insist that any alternative plan to save Mills College must provide increased income to staff and faculty, who have not received cost of living increases for many years. They deserve a better deal than Northeastern is offering, to reward them for continuing to play a crucial part of Mills College - still independent and newly invigorated with competent and visionary leadership. Get past "Northeastern is a good deal because we can keep our jobs and get a payrise". Keeping Mills independent is the right thing to do. We can all claim victory together and share in the rewards. We just have to stop this Cabal - who seem like they are becoming increasingly desperate and unhinged as more details of their activities are coming to light.
THE INCOMPETENCE IS NOW ON FULL PUBLIC DISPLAY
The latest move from President Hillman just gives us yet another public example of her poor judgement. No wonder there is so much secrecy - imagine the incompetence that must be going on in private.
Mills College hosts the AAMC web site and email system. They have blocked the ability for the AAMC to communicate with their members and deleted pages from their web site.
4 months after the Board of Trustees agreed to "develop a plan" not "close a College" as we were told, and one month after having to take the drastic step of filing a lawsuit to get transparency...even TRUSTEES still don't have the business case for this transaction? What in tarnation is going on within this Board?
BETH HILLMAN AND THE 26,000 ANGRY ALUMS
Despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, with No Confidence from her faculty and no supporters for her plans outside the boardroom, President Hillman has now decided to declare war against the entire Mills College Alumnae community. If she actually valued the College she is trying so hard to destroy, she would realize how talented, capable, and powerful this group of women is. Hollywood, the tech industry, media, finance, law, education, medicine, politics - there are influential and resourceful Mills alums all over America and the world.
Where do they think their precious endowment comes from? According to the IRS 990 Forms, Contributions and Grants to Mills College from 2013-2019 were $104,374,097. $24 million of that was from the Government; who does she think the other $80 million came from - alums of Northeastern?
In response to being served with a lawsuit, the Cabal's natural reaction is to immediately interfere with it. Censor the AAMC, interfere with their mail server, remove parts of their web site, stop them from communicating with their members, try to diminish their fundraising capabilities. There's an element here of tortious interference in the operations of AAMC, which is one of Mills College's largest creditors. There's an element of self-sabotage, a pattern we keep seeing repeated of decisions being made that appear designed to damage the College further with every step. Then there's a most troubling element of retaliation related to a fairly innocuous lawsuit. There's also a PR element, which does not seem to have been thought through very well. Streisand Effect, anyone? It seems a particularly reckless step for the Hillman Administration to take whilst in the midst of merger and acquisition negotiations.
This is just another in a long line of chess moves President Hillman has made, each of which resulted in distressing the assets of Mills College. The end result seems to be to force some sort of transaction through, no matter what and to whom. All that matters is they get the Mills Institute - and the attached $206 million endowment, enhanced by whatever Stripe will be worth after their trillion dollar IPO. As long as the endowment can survive, there's a lot of Two and Twenty to be made as it grows for centuries to come. And those fees will grow SO much faster now Northeastern is paying for the College. Annual drawdown for the Institute will be what, 1%? That's an extra $12 million a year right there!
President Hillman, backed by the long-term trustees who recruited her and approved all her plans, have ended up minimizing the acquisition costs for this prize, while creating a self-fulfilling prophecy around their financial "stabilization" plans. Trying to turn a beautiful castle into a stables, is perhaps one interpretation of "stabilization" that fits with the consequences of these terrible decisions.
The strong, proud, and fiercely independent Mills College alums are a force not just to preserve and grow the College - but there is plenty they can do against Northeastern too. Is this the fight these people really want attached to their brand for all time?
DISCLAIMER
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?