Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in 1871 and became the first women's college west of the Rockies. In 2022, it merged with Northeastern University following several years of alleged financial difficulties.
History
Mills College was initially founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in the city of Benicia in 1852 under the leadership of Mary Atkins, a graduate of Oberlin College. In 1865, Susan Tolman Mills, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (then Mount Holyoke Female Seminary), and her husband, Cyrus Mills, bought the Young Ladies Seminary renaming it Mills Seminary. In 1871, the school was moved to its current location in Oakland, California. The school was incorporated in 1877 and was officially renamed Mills College in 1885. In 1890, after serving for decades as principal (under two presidents as well), Susan Mills became the president of the college and held the position for 19 years. Beginning in 1906 the seminary classes were progressively eliminated. In 1920, Mills added graduate programs for women and men, granting its first master's degrees the following year.
Other notable milestones in the college's history include the presidency of renowned educator and activist Aurelia Henry Reinhardt during World War I and II, the establishment of the first laboratory school west of the Mississippi for aspiring teachers (currently known as the Mills College Children's School) in 1926, and becoming the first women's college to offer a computer science major (1974).
Reversal of decision to go co-ed
In 1990, Mills became the first and only women's college in the US to reverse a decision to go coed. On May 3, 1990, Mills Trustees announced that they had voted to admit male undergraduate students to Mills. This decision led to a two-week student and staff strike, accompanied by numerous displays of non-violent protests by the students. At one point, nearly 300 students blockaded the administrative offices and boycotted classes. On May 18, the Trustees met again to reconsider the decision, leading to a reversal of the vote to go coed on the undergraduate level.
First single-sex college to formally welcome transgender students
In 2014, Mills became the first single-sex college in the U.S. to adopt an admission policy explicitly welcoming transgender students. The policy stated that undergraduate students who were not assigned to the female sex at birth, but who self-identified as women, were welcome to apply for admission. Undergraduates who were assigned to the female sex at birth, but identified as transgender or gender fluid, also were welcome to apply for admission. The policy further clarified that undergraduate students assigned to the female sex at birth who had legally become male prior to applying were not eligible for admission to Mills. The policy ended with a statement that "once admitted, any student who completes the College's graduate requirements shall be awarded a degree," indicating that once admitted to Mills, an undergraduate female student who changed sex or gender to male would be allowed to complete their degree at the college.
Merger with Northeastern University
In 2017, Mills declared a financial emergency, citing declining student enrollment and revenues, and laid off some tenured faculty. That September, it became the first private college in California to implement a tuition reset, announcing a 36% reduction in its undergraduate tuition beginning in fall 2018, with a goal of making a Mills education more affordable. Undergraduate tuition in the 2018–2019 academic year was $28,765 (reduced from $44,765); room and board costs were $13,448. Students are still able to receive merit scholarships and need-based financial aid in addition to the tuition reduction.
In March 2021, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Mills announced plans to no longer be an independent, degree-granting college but rather a research institute known as the Mills Institute. Following this announcement, multiple higher education institutions reached out to Mills to explore merger options.
In June 2021, the college announced a plan to merge with Boston-based Northeastern University and become an all-gender regional campus as part of Northeastern's global university system. Multiple lawsuits opposing the merger were filed by parties including two Mills College trustees and a substantial number of current Mills students.
