POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN
The following statement and list of demands is seeking support. For a full list of current signatories and to sign go here. For more coverage of the pending closure of Mills College and the faculty response go here and here. Also, you can watch this powerful video presentation to Mills trustees prepared by the Save Mills College coalition.
A few weeks ago it was announced that Mills College was closing and would shortly become the Mills Institute. Since then we have received many messages of support and outrage. None surprised us more than a colleague from another school who expressed regret about the College going bankrupt. Mills is not, however, going bankrupt. Despite its constant annual deficit, Mills’ endowment is over $200 million. The College’s assets include a rare book collection worth millions, an art museum with holdings of incalculable value, and vast square footage with beautiful, historical buildings in an urban area famous for high land costs.
Since the Board announced it was closing the College, several student and alumni groups have organized to stop this closure and maintain Mills’ degree-granting status. We admire and support these efforts. We are writing to clarify what is happening, to share our demands, and to present a cautionary tale for those who may also work at colleges such as Mills.
Prior to the closure announcement, faculty and staff had been working with the administration on what we understood would be a merger, potentially with UC Berkeley and if not, then with another college or university. We were told that this merger would maintain the College’s ability to serve the uniquely diverse and inclusive student body. So we were as stunned as our students when it was announced that the College would transition to a non-degree granting institute. This decision was made without faculty consultation and has allowed the administration to theoretically keep control over the endowment. It also effectively forecloses any possible merger that the faculty might attempt to pursue, but instead allows Mills to sell off the land and buildings not targeted for future use by the still undefined or budgeted Institute.
The administration claims that the Institute will maintain the Mills mission. But the staff and faculty, and the students we serve, are the College’s mission. We have advised and taught countless students, many of us for 15 years or longer. We have done this work in the face of pay cuts, workload increases, unpaid furloughs, no cost of living increase, and cuts to our retirement match. We accepted these cuts because we were told that austerity measures were necessary to protect the College’s future. Now the administration’s transition plans involve taking control of the very endowment we have been protecting for our future and that of our students, instead using it for an amorphous Institute.
As best as we can figure out, full time faculty may face layoffs as soon as Fall 2022 with no guarantee of severance. Some adjunct faculty have already been informed of reduced teaching loads starting this fall, with others anticipating further cuts to classes and thus health benefits. Nothing is clear for staff. There is some talk from the administration about how they hope we will all be on “Team 23,” but there are no guarantees that the College will employ those who want to remain, nor any indication that adequate financial and professional support will be provided for those who do stay on.
Things are moving quickly, and we are worried that we will miss our chance if pressure is not placed on the administration immediately to support the faculty and staff through what will be, for us, not a transition but an ending, in the midst of a bleak employment landscape in higher education. Along with gifts from countless donors, the College’s endowment consists of our donated labor, retirement matches, and cancelled cost-of-living increases. We have often heard that because so much of the endowment is restricted, it cannot be used to help offset the deficit. So here we are, we hope not too late, giving notice that our many donations over the years are restricted or should be. Any closure that does not offer real, material support to staff and faculty therefore represents a kind of theft, one we are no longer willing to let go without a fight.
The following demands are made by a small group of faculty, some tenure line and some not. Adjunct faculty and staff have union representation, but as ranked faculty at a private college, we have not been able to unionize. We are focused now on demanding recompense for our labor and for the years of reduced compensation, as well as financial and professional support to navigate the coming years in which many of us may lose employment. We support whatever our fellow workers pursue through union negotiations, and demand that the College immediately agree to ratify all union contract demands. We make the following demands on behalf of everyone who works at Mills without union representation. We see these demands as just the beginning of the support owed to us by the administration, and the only way to meaningfully enact teach-out plans as promised to current and incoming students.
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WE INVITE ANYONE TO SIGN THIS PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS:
Course schedule immediately frozen and no cuts to classes, even if under enrolled. The remaining students deserve a full range of classes.
“Stay pay” salary increase of 15 percent for all faculty and staff who choose to remain at Mills, starting immediately.
Back pay for salary cuts plus COLA plus retirement match for the last 10 years for all faculty and staff who are currently employed at Mills.
An immediate freeze on layoffs, course reductions, or mandatory furloughs for all faculty and staff jobs.
Additional aid and/or fee waivers for the summer and J-term classes that students will be forced to take to get their degrees.
Seamless transfer plans, without any student fees incurred in the process, with Mills covering any cost difference in tuition as soon as possible.
Additional staff in support services to assist students with the stress of this transition, with backgrounds and focus on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and first-gen students.
A minimum of two years severance pay for all terminated faculty and staff.
A minimum of paid COBRA benefits for two years for all terminated faculty and staff.
Emeritus status for faculty with library privileges.
Individual career coaching from a nationally reputable firm for all who desire it.
Tuition remission for any faculty and staff who want to retrain for employment reasons.
Extension of tuition remission at partner schools for those whose children are attending, until they graduate.
Agreements with partner institutions to offer ongoing free career support services for all Mills alumni.
First hired for any possible faculty or staff jobs with the Institute for the next 10 years, with equivalent or above pay rates.
First in line for any fellowships at the Institute, beginning with adjuncts and assistant professors, for the next 10 years.
