Former Mills College student responds to merger with Northeastern

Hope Frances Simpson ’24

Staff Writer

Mills College was the first historically women’s college to be founded west of the Rocky Mountains. Now, it will be the first West Coast HWC to become formally co-ed. Mills agreed to a merger with Northeastern University in spring 2021 that will take effect on July 1, 2022, according to the Mills College website. Discussions of a possible closure or merger at the College have been ongoing since 2020. 

Mills College will become the Mills Institute following the merger. According to the college’s website, students who are set to graduate before the merger goes through will be granted degrees from Mills College, while those who are slated to graduate after spring 2022 will graduate with degrees from Mills College at Northeastern. The College will no longer grant degrees once these students have graduated. Tenured faculty and those on tenure track will have the same terms of tenure they had before the merger according to Northeastern, while staff members will be considered employees of Northeastern instead of Mills College. 

Mills has painted the merger as a positive development, posting on their college website, saying, “Through a historic merger, our beloved East Oakland college is bringing its magic to Northeastern University’s global network of campuses.”

Sierra West ’23 is a fall 2021 transfer student from Mills to Mount Holyoke College. During her time there, the Mills student body was informed that the college would be closing just two weeks before their spring break in March 2020. This announcement came from the College’s president, Elizabeth Hillman, via email rather than directly. The impact of this announcement on students, West said, was not a positive experience.

“They initially announced that they were going to transfer away from being a degree granting college. I didn’t even know what that meant,” West said. She mentioned that the college had also been in talks with University of California Berkeley about a possible merger.

West felt this announcement was handled inappropriately, especially since Mills had already accepted students into the incoming class of 2024, even though the College had informed students they would not be granting degrees after 2023. This was after they announced the College would become the Mills Institute, but before the merger with Northeastern. 

A letter, addressed to Hillman, from Mills alumni in the classes of 1970 and 1971 expressed understanding toward the merger. 

“We were not surprised when Mills’ long-term financial crisis reached a breaking point,” Kathleen Dalton, Mills College alumna, wrote on behalf of Mills classes 1970 and 1971. 

Although not a Mills alum themselves, Phoebe Murtagh ’21 is a member of the All4Mills team. This is a group, primarily of alumni, whose goal is to keep Mills from merging with Northeastern and to remain an independent institution. 

“Mills could continue to operate, and … the issue is one of spending, not revenue, …  could be resolved with better management,” Murtagh said.

In their letter, the Mills classes of 1970 and 1971 expressed concerns regarding the large LGBTQ+ community at Mills.

“We applaud the fact that Mills has struggled to fight its own past homophobia. We are concerned that [Mills College’s] success has moved it to one of the highest percentages of LGBT attendees among its peers,” wrote Dalton, who explained concerns about this community, emphasising that 58 percent of Mills students identify as LGBTQ+. Some 1970 and 1971 alumni believe this could be harmful for marketing the school, as some applicants may find it “off-putting,” as put in the letter.

President Hillman, herself a member of the LGBTQ+ community, did not rebut this remark, according to Murtagh. 

“Mills is less selective and has lower tuition than MHC, which means it’s more accessible than the Seven Sib[ling]s to students who won’t be able to offer perfect grades and strong extracurriculars, but could thrive in a space where their gender identity is affirmed,” Murtagh wrote. 

While the Mills classes of 1970 and 1971 are focused on catering to other demographics, Murtagh pointed out how Mills’ strong LGBTQ+ community offers a place for those students who are looking for a HWC experience but might not have the academics to get into a Seven Sisters college. 

West also described frustration toward the college’s lack of transparency, as she said the administration did not give students a clear definition of what the Mills Institute would look like going forward. These factors, she said, contributed to her decision to transfer to Mount Holyoke.

“[The closure] definitely felt very rushed. It didn’t feel like there was a lot of planning to it,” West said. 

She mentioned that staff and professors also did not seem to have a clear grasp of what was going on. West didn’t feel she could trust the College, which made her unsure of how the rest of her time there would go if she stayed.

The timing of the announcement only increased anxiety surrounding the already stressful process of transferring colleges for many Mills students. At Mount Holyoke, for example, this year’s fall transfer application deadline is in March. West described having a professor drop out of writing her recommendation last minute, prompting her to contact a teacher from high school who agreed to do it instead. Luckily for West, she was still able to transfer. 

In merging with Northeastern, it seems that Mills College aims to remain open, but as a co-educational institute rather than a college.