Protests against male undergraduate students grabbed national attention

Article here. Excerpt:

'OAKLAND -- From where Mills College students Jessica Brennan and Claudia Cinelli lounged on the edge of the campus' lush Toyon Meadow earlier this week, it's easy to see what's different here from most college campuses: Male students are in short supply. Twenty years ago this month, the meadow was the epicenter of an emotional fight over a proposal to make college undergraduate programs coed. It was a fight that attracted national attention.

Fearing for Mills long-term security if it didn't enroll 1,000 undergraduate students -- it had less than 800 at the time -- the school's board of trustees decided in May 1990 to admit men for the first time in the college's 138-year history. The decision had an immediate backlash: more than 300 students boycotted classes, blockaded administration buildings and sparked a national discussion about the value of women-only education.

Sixteen days later, the school board reversed its decision, and the undergraduate school remained women only. Graduate programs have been offered to men and women since the 1920s.

Brennan and Cinelli called those student fighters "strong, proud Mills women" who helped cement the campus as a place that promotes confidence, individuality and success for female students.

"There is something about a classroom full of opinionated, educated women," Cinelli said. "I think we challenge each other in a way that's more powerful than a coed college. I am so thankful for them for leaving us with an all-women college."
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As officials prepare for Mills commencement Saturday -- with a keynote address by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. -- they are using the 20th anniversary of the boycott to highlight women's achievements, from inroads in science and art to journalism and politics...'