In the midst of a financial emergency, Mills College will lay off faculty and restructure academic programs in an effort to right the ship. Earlier this year, Mills faced a growing deficit of more than $9 million out of an annual operating budget of $57 million.
“This is an extraordinary moment for us,” Mills College President Elizabeth L. Hillman said in a phone interview on Friday afternoon.
Hillman joined the college in July 2016. A former U.S. Air Force officer, Hillman was the provost of UC Hastings Law School before coming to Mills.
The Oakland, California-based liberal arts institution was established in 1852 as an all-women’s school, and has stayed true to that original mission. Students resisted efforts to make the school co-educational in the 1990s. Today it serves approximately 1345 undergraduate and graduate students.
Compared to many of its liberal arts peers, Mills does well in terms of its racial and socio-economic diversity. The majority of Mills students are minorities and half are Pell-eligible. Mills also made its mark as a school known for its inclusivity to transgender students.
In recent years, the school has seen its enrollment numbers decline. While its endowment still sits at approximately $177 million, the growing deficit raised alarm bells for the school’s leadership. In response, the board of trustees charged the school with developing a plan that will eliminate the deficit altogether over the course of the next three years.
