There is a rally today at Mills College, 4pm PST. Be there if you can, tune in if it's live. If you're down there now reading this, please spread the word about this blog. #MillsForever
Some big news on the lawsuit, too much to go into in detail right now. Basically, the College didn't hand over all the documents they were supposed to, so the AAMC are asking for the judge to extend the restraining order. The College is fighting back hard, going after the AAMC and the Plaintiffs for damages while repeating their same old arguments ("look! we found a voodoo dancing professor from Smith College that agrees with everything we say!") and throwing in a few new ones ("this lawsuit filed by two people of color against a predominantly white board is an anti-racism violation!"). The Defendants seem to be at the "throw everything at the wall in case something sticks" stage of their desperation to avoid transparency at all costs.
Thanks to the Save Mills Coalition for linking to this blog in their excellent post A Question Of Truth And Transparency. One of their readers sent us some referenced financial bullet points, pulled together from public documents. This is included below.
In recent Court filings, the College said that use of its endowment to remedy its financial emergency was restricted. This is a bald-faced lie, as the audited FY20 accounts show the unrestricted part of the endowment is over $70 million and, on top of that, the Board has also already approved additional borrowing from the restricted part of the endowment for $15 million. Perhaps they mean it is restricted from being used for their own nefarious (and self-dealing?) purposes.
The idea that the Mills endowment cannot be used to keep the College alive through unprecedented unexpected challenges like this century's pandemic is laughable, and hints at the undercurrent of what is really going on here - the theft of billions of dollars of assets right under the noses of the Governor and Lieutentant Governor, the Attorney General, the Alameda Superior Court judge, the Board of Trustees and all stakeholders.
This is why we need #NewLeadership. The obvious things are not being done; the things that are being done are increasingly bizarre, illogical and irrational. And that's just from what we can see, imagine what the stuff they are trying to hide must be!
The combination of hyper-secrecy and coldly calculated information warfare seems excessive for a non-profit dedicated to women's leadership and social justice, where all parties claim to be acting in good faith in the best interests of Mills College. Good faith and transparency go hand in hand; good faith and disinformation do not.
Source: Defendants Cross-Complaint August 27, 2021
The College is now claiming their expected deficit for the financial year is $20 million (what happened to Beth's "half a billion to a billion?" Last year's result was a $6.4 million profit, so this is a near-$27 million swing to the opposite direction. However they calculated this implausibly high number, it still fits within the College accreditors view, based on extensive on-campus interviews with the CFO, President and others, that Mills College had sufficient reserves available to it via its endowment to get through several years of trading even in a worst case scenario.
Instead of showing their business case for the merger, the Defendants are fighting tooth and nail against transparency. Is there illegal activity going on? Well, Beth Hillman is a lawyer, she is surrounded by lawyers from the #7 biggest law firm in the world, including some from out of State not licensed to practice law by the California bar...and they are openly defying a judge's order. Innocent, law-abiding citizens with nothing to hide don't do things like that.
In the latest move, the AAMC has filed to extend the injunction as the College has not provided significant information that the judge ordered them to, such as what the actual terms of the deal with Northeastern are.
Source: Plaintiff's Ex-Parte Motion August 26, 2021
[Thank you to whoever compiled these bullet points, this is a helpful summary]
The information used here has come from the Mills College audited financials, IRS Form 990 annual returns, and filings with the Alameda County Superior Court.
The essence of the AAMC lawsuit is to ask the Hillman Administration and Executive Committee of the Board to prove their claim that the College has no option but to close forever, or be absorbed by Northeastern University. The two Plaintiff Trustees sat on the Board of Trustees, which according to Mills College Bylaw 12.2 entitles them to inspect and make copies of "documents of any kind"i.
The College has denied this to the Plaintiffs, who claim in court documents that it "came as a shock" to learn on March 17, 2021 President Hillman's plans to cease granting degrees, make the campus co-ed for undergraduates of other colleges to live there, and change the name to the "Mills Institute". The Trustees had merely voted at the Board meeting on March 4, 2021 to begin discussions of a Teach Out plan for further consideration and design for a Mills Institute, both subject to further board review, deliberation and potential approval. Likewise, with Northeastern University, the Board voted only for negotiation discussions to begin, subject to final board review, deliberations and potential approval. This has been reported differently in the Hillman Administration's PR campaignii.
The Plaintiffs claim in Court documents they "have not seen evidence of the dire financial picture being portrayed; much to the contrary". Their filings share some of the information they found in their due diligence which has not previously been made public. The lawsuit seeks other information that so far the College has refused to provide in a practical manner for review, and a pause for 60 days in committing the College to any transactions until trustees have time to review this momentous decision.
The publicly available information raises serious questions about the true financial position of Mills College, compared to what has been reported by the President. The Trustees have also seen information that is not publicly available. The Administration's fierce fight to avoid explaining their rationale, rather than handing over the documents, seems to indicate there is more to what is going on than meets the eye.
Mills College appears to be able to trade through its challenging circumstances. The argument of the Plaintiff Trustees is bolstered by the Save Mills coalition's independent expert Stefano Falconi, the AAMC legal team's forensic accountant Jeffrey Brandlin, and other industry professionals. Janet Holmgren, former President of Mills College from 1991-2011, told the Daily Beast "I think this idea that women are not interested in women's colleges is yet to be proven"xix.
i. Bylaws: https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/Complaint-for-Damages-and-Equitable-Relief-1.pdf Page 48
ii. Plaintiffs statement of shock: https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/04-Declaration-of-Dr-V-Nakka-Cammauf-ISO-Ex-Parte-Application.pdf Page 2
iii. Plaintiffs have not seen evidence of dire financial situation: https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/05-Declaration-of-T-Singh-ISO-Ex-Parte-Application.pdf Page 3
iv. https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/04-Declaration-of-E-Roberts-ISO-Opposition-to-TRO.pdf Page 8
v. https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/04-Declaration-of-Dr-V-Nakka-Cammauf-ISO-Ex-Parte-Application.pdf Page 4
vi. WASC Accreditation Team Report https://wascsenior.box.com/shared/static/uyf83gz15endntryapq78qk6ztb3wlbz.pdf and Feb 2020 Letter https://wascsenior.box.com/shared/static/dhgmp2gqknmsd8ac7eqtqghn5zcvng96.pdf
vii. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 6
viii. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 5
ix. $206m endowment: https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/Complaint-for-Damages-and-Equitable-Relief-1.pdf Page 8
x. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 33
xi. Stripe biggest IPO in history, expected in 2021: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/upcoming-ipos/
xii. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 30
xiii. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 12
xiv. 7% payout rate https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/07-INDEX-EXHIBITS-ISO-Opposition-to-TRO.pdf Page 132
xv. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 13
xvi. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 29
xvii. ADA & deferred maintenance costs https://www.aamc-mills.org/s/07-INDEX-EXHIBITS-ISO-Opposition-to-TRO.pdf Page 133 ; DOJ settlement: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-ndca/legacy/2013/01/23/mills_college%20signed%20settlement%20agr.pdf Page 57
xviii. Audited FY20 Financials https://inside.mills.edu/about-mills/docs/FY20-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf Page 34,35
xix. Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fight-to-save-womens-colleges-from-extinction>
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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?
26. Simple Solutions For Mills College Financial Situation
27. Online Education In The Bay Area: New Gold Mountain
28. Mills College Trustees Rushing Into A Deal Without Knowing The Terms
29. What Happened At The First Mills College Court Hearing?
30. Mills College Is Lost, But The Perpetrators Of Its Downfall Remain
