Mills Students Savor Lesson in Winning : Feminism: Women say they were changed by the successful protest against admission of men. ‘We can do anything,’ says one.

Joyce Adca is proud of the education she has received at Mills College. But as the 22-year-old senior prepares to graduate today, she says the past two weeks have changed her view of what she values most about her college days.

Reflecting on the two-week student strike that shut down the campus and helped persuade Mills officials to reverse a decision to admit undergraduate men to the college, she says the protest has provided her with a profound lesson:

“Women can change the world. We can do anything. This proves it,” said Adca, a psychology major. “I didn’t think the protests would work, but we did it. I think it’s the perfect happy ending to my four years here.”

The “happy ending” was Friday’s vote by Mills trustees to reverse the decision to admit undergraduate men to the 138-year-old college. The reversal came in response to the protests and a financial rescue plan put together by alumnae.

The trustees had wanted to admit men in fall, 1991, to boost enrollment from the current 777 to 1,000, and to help balance Mills’ $24-million annual budget.

Adca’s sentiments about the protest were echoed by more than a dozen students interviewed Saturday at Mills’ sprawling, tree-dotted 135-acre campus. They all agreed that the last two weeks changed the way they look at the world.

“It was such a clean revolution. There were no police, no violence,” said Chiara Monodori, 21, a senior. “We didn’t have to riot or burn cars. . . . Women can organize to get what we want without violence.”

A celebratory mood continued to prevade the campus Saturday. More than a hundred students gathered on the main square, hugging one another and shouting congratulations. Many still wore T-shirts that had become an unofficial uniform for the protest, emblazoned with the slogan: “Better Dead than Co-ed.”

Nearby were neat piles of tents, posters and banners left over from the protest.

“I’ve never been so proud to be a Mills woman,” senior Barbara Needell said as she waited for the beginning of rehearsal for today’s commencement ceremony. “I’ve learned so much in the past two weeks. People who used to just pass by one another have learned so much from each other.”

Needell, like many Mills students, re-entered college after working. At 41, she’s old enough to remember a different era of campus activism.

“I’ve learned a lot from the 19- and 20-year-olds,” she said “The passion for what they believed in is reminiscent of the civil rights movement or the anti-war movement.”

Strike organizers claim that more than 500 students participated in the protest at Mills. Several said they hope to transfer the school’s new-found activism into a long-term struggle for women’s rights.

“I think in a way Mills College could be the start of the women’s movement of the ‘90s,” said Lisa Kosiewicz, a 21-year-old junior from Salem, Ore.

But she added, “Right now, we need this energy to keep Mills College alive.”

College President Mary Metz said that even though there were tense feelings and disagreements during the two-week strike, she’s proud of the Mills students.

“It’s clear that what we do works. These women haven’t just been educated intellectually,” said Metz, gesturing to the seniors lined up at the rehearsal. “These are proud and strong women who cannot be put down.”