Judge to decide if Mills College must share financial documents with alumnae trustees

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Alumnae Association of Mills College wants to see proof that the college, as administrators claim, is in poor financial health, and is suing for access to the institution's tightly-guarded financial documents.

A court hearing on Monday afternoon in Alameda County Superior Court will decide if administrators must turn over thousands of pages of financial documents to the alumnae trustees.

"We feel that we have exhausted all avenues, we don't want to be going to court," Alexa Pagonas, vice president of the board of governors of the alumnae association of Mills College, said.

There are 20 boards of governors, representing 25,000 alumnae. The board was created in the 1990s to keep administrators and trustees in check and accountable.

A complaint filed last Friday asked a judge to order Mills College administrators to turn over all financial documents that reflect the financial health of the institution and provide 60 days for the alumnae trustees to review them.

"We did do a recent survey, and 83 percent of our alumns want to continue forward with the law suit, and have some transparency," Pagonas said.

"Plaintiffs have made multiple attempts to secure the information without court intervention," the complaint states. "Yet most recently on July 21, 2021 the College made clear that it would do nothing more than allow Ms. Nakka-Cammaf  to inspect the records without making copies and without the assistance of counsel or consultants."

The alumnae are up against a ticking clock. Northeastern University has begun formal talks to acquire Mills as one of its many satellite campuses.

The attorneys representing the Mills administrators deny that the college had "concealed" financial records, and wrote in a July 21 letter to the attorneys representing Mills alumnae that "these requests do not appear to us to be made in a good faith effort to fulfill…fiduciary duties to the College as a Trustee, but rather appear to be in aid of previously filed litigation--sponsored by the AAMC--against the College and several of its officers and Trustees seeking money damages from them."

The attorneys claim that ample financial documents have been shared with Mills alumnae.

"Mills continues to feel confident that combining with Northeastern is the best opportunity for the College to be financially sustainable in response to the changing demands of higher education and to continue its legacy in social justice and support of women's leadership. The College prefers not to comment on any pending litigation," Mills College president Elizabeth Hillman said in a statement sent to KTVU.