Monday’s ruling represents a big win for the plaintiffs, who now include the Alumnae Association of Mills College. They are suing to halt Mills, in Oakland, Calif., from shutting down and being absorbed into Northeastern, creating a coed campus that would grant undergraduate and graduate degrees. The nearly 170-year-old institution currently admits only women and nonbinary students into its undergraduate programs.
Like with many consolidation proposals across the U.S., backlash was swift, particularly among alumnae.