The federal government announced this week it is investigating Smith College’s policy of admitting transgender women, and whether that policy now violates Federal law after the Trump administration reinterpreted it to exclude transgender people.
Reports MassLive.com:
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights said it opened a probe into the school “for admitting biological men and granting them access to women-only spaces.” It is investigating whether Smith’s policy violates Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in programs that receive federal dollars.
For more than a decade, the Northampton college has allowed transgender women to attend.
“Smith is a women’s college,” its website reads, “and considers for admission any applicants who self-identify as women; cis, trans, and nonbinary women are eligible to apply to Smith.”
A Smith College spokesperson said the school was notified about the investigation.
“The College is fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws,” Carolyn McDaniel, a spokesperson for the college, said in a statement.
One conservative group, Defending Education, submitted a complaint last year to the DOE about Smith’s policy. The group argued that Smith is discriminating against women by admitting transgender women, who the Defending Education group claims are male.
“Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a press release Monday.
The college changed its policy in 2015 to admit transgender women.
“Our clarified admission policy reflects a women’s college that is steadfast in its founding mission yet evolving to reflect a changing world,” the college said at the time. Other women’s colleges adopted similar policies around the same time.