Students at Wellesley College voted on Tuesday in favor of opening the traditionally women’s school to all nonbinary and transgender applicants, including trans men. Currently, “the college allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman,” according to a report in Boston.com.
Later that day, however, the Boston Globe reported the college had “no plan” to change its admissions policy or its mission around admitting transgender men and using more inclusive language in campus communications.
Reports Boston.com:
The referendum, which was nonbinding, called for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants, including trans men. Currently, the college allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman.
The referendum also called for making the college’s communications more gender-inclusive — for example, using the word “students” or “alumni” instead of “women.”
On Tuesday, its students supported a referendum that had polarized the campus and went straight to the heart of Wellesley’s identity as a women’s college.
The vote was in some ways definitional: What is the mission of a women’s college?
Supporters said women’s colleges had always been safe havens for people facing gender discrimination, and with trans people under attack, all transgender and nonbinary applicants must be able to apply to Wellesley.
Opponents of the referendum said if trans men or nonbinary students were admitted, Wellesley would become effectively coed.
And Wellesley’s president, Paula Johnson, said the referendum would rewrite Wellesley’s founding mission to educate women.
In a statement after the vote, a spokesperson for Johnson said the college would not reconsider its opposition.
“The college will continue to engage all students, including transgender male and nonbinary students, in the important work of building an inclusive academic community where everyone feels they belong,” the statement said.
The college, by established practice, did not release the breakdown of the vote, making it hard to measure the depth of support. But both supporters and opponents expected the referendum to pass.
Read the complete Boston.com story here.
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