Six Mills staff members were laid off on Nov. 30. In a Dec. 1 email sent the Mills community, President Alecia DeCoudreaux said the other two positions that were eliminated were the Director of Systems (Information Technology Services) and the Planned Giving Officer (Office of Institional Advancement). President DeCoudreaux did not disclose the names of the staff members in those positions. “I realize that people may have strong feelings as well as some important questions about the staff layoffs that occurred yesterday (Nov. 30),” DeCoudreaux said in the email. “While these kinds of decisions are never easy, they were necessary in our continuing efforts to strategically bring the College’s budget in balance.” Within an hour of senior class president Jack Elliott’s posting of the news on Facebook, students met in the Solidarity Lounge to answer each other’s questions and begin organizing ways to show solidarity with the staff and disapproval of the layoffs.
