School:Mills College
Mills College is a liberal arts and sciences college located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mills was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California. The school was relocated to Oakland, California, in 1871, and became the first women's college west of the Rockies. Currently, Mills is an undergraduate women's college with graduate programs for women and men. The college offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and minors and over 25 graduate degrees, certificates, and credentials.[4][5] The college is also home to the Mills College School of Education and the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business & Public Policy.
In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked Mills sixth overall among colleges and universities in the Western U.S. (regional universities) and one of the top colleges and universities in the Western U.S. in "Great Schools, Great Prices," which evaluated the quality of institutions' academics against the cost of attendance.[6] The Princeton Review ranks Mills as one of the Best 380 Collegesand one of the top "green" colleges in the U.S.[7] Washington Monthly ranks Mills as one of the top 10 master's universities in the U.S.[8]
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 Oakland, California, and the school was incorporated in 1877. The school became 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.[9] Beginning in 1906 the seminary classes were progressively eliminated. In 1921, Mills granted its first master's degrees.
On May 3, 1990, the Trustees announced that they had voted to admit male undergraduate students to Mills.[10] This decision led to a two-week student and staff strike, accompanied by numerous displays of non-violent protests by the students.[11][12] At one point, nearly 300 students blockaded the administrative offices and boycotted classes.[13] On May 18, the Trustees met again to reconsider the decision, leading finally to a reversal of the vote.[14][15]
In 2014, Mills became the first single-sex college in the U.S. to adopt a policy explicitly welcoming transgender students.[16] The policy states that applicants not assigned to the female sex at birth but who self-identify as women are welcome, as are applicants who identify as neither male nor female if they were assigned to the female sex at birth.[16] It also states that students assigned to the female sex at birth who have legally become male prior to applying are not eligible unless they apply to the graduate program, which is coeducational, although female students who become male after enrolling may stay and graduate.[16]
