Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992 TAG: 9201090461
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MILLS OUTCRY ONLY SPURRED FUND-RAISING
The up-and-down saga of Mills College in Oakland, Calif., the subject of front-page headlines and "Nightline" segments a year and a half ago, illustrates the dangers facing women's colleges as well as the hopes that they can overcome them.In May 1990, Mills' board, facing enrollment declines and six-digit deficits, announced the college would admit men. The decision triggered a passionate outcry: Students, some with shaved heads and T-shirts saying "Better Dead Than Coed," blockaded the administration building for two weeks.
The board then promised to avoid coeducation if the college met ambitious fund-raising and enrollment goals by 1995.
Eighteen months later, enrollment was static but fund raising had leaped. "I'm quite confident now," board Chairman Warren Hellman said.
The board wanted to add $10 million to the $72 million endowment. It's halfway there.
It wanted to increase annual giving from alumnae from $450,000 to $750,000. It's already there. The alumnae donated $940,000.
It wanted to increase undergraduate enrollment to 900 by 1993 and 1,000 in 1995. It's not even close. Enrollment went up by just one student, from 774 to 775 for '91-92.
College spokeswoman Vickie Bates said it's difficult to boost enrollment when the number of high-school graduates has dropped. "You're not going to see people flocking to see us because they're just not there," she said.
Mills President Janet McKay has suggested focusing on recruiting graduate students and revising the undergraduate goal to 1,050 by 2002, the school's 150th anniversary.
Sociology professor Ted Thomas, who led a faculty panel recommending coeducation two years ago, remains troubled by the flat enrollment figures. "It won't be able to maintain the diversity of programs that young people expect," he said.