Department of Education opens investigation into Smith College for admitting trans women
Trump administration Latest move to limit trans rightsThe Department of Education launched a Title IX investigation into Smith College, an all-female college in Western Massachusetts, for admitting transgender women.
Like many other women’s colleges in the United States, Smith, a small liberal arts college, accepts transgender women. The 155-year-old school says it is “a women’s college and considers for admission all applicants who identify as women; cis, trans, and gender non-binary women are eligible to apply to Smith.”
In a statement Monday, the Department of Education said it was investigating Smith for “admitting biological males and granting them access to female-only areas, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic teams.”
The term “biological males,” often used by those who oppose trans rights to describe trans women, is not commonly used by transgender people.
Smith College told CNN that it “is fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws” and that it “does not comment on pending government investigations.”
The Department for Education said it was investigating whether the university’s policy was breached Title IXIt is a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any school or other educational program that receives federal funds.
“Title IX includes a single-sex exception that allows universities to enroll all-male or all-female student bodies, but this exception applies based on biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity,” the statement reads. “An all-female college that admits female-identifying male students would cease to qualify as single-sex under Title IX.”
Shannon Minter, attorney National Center for LGBTQ RightsHe called the investigation a “sinister” example of government overreach in private institutions.
“If they (women’s colleges) chose to accept transgender students, as most do, that is something they should be able to do freely without worrying about persecution from the federal government,” he said.
“This administration seems determined to eliminate the inclusion of transgender people anywhere in our society,” he added.
President Donald Trump received comprehensive measures Limiting the rights of trans people and denying trans identity is first and foremost. New policies in his second term include: ban on transgender people from the military, States suing allowing trans athletes to play on high school sports teams, restricting trans and non-binary children’s access to sports teams gender affirming careand Day 1 executive order He redefined sex as “gender” and said that people are either male or female, determined by biology at fertilization.
Trans people make up a small part of the country’s population. Only 1% of the United States population age 13 and over identifies as transgender. According to the Williams InstituteA public policy research center at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law focused on sexual orientation and gender identity.
It’s unclear how many transgender students there are at Smith today. college adapted its admissions policies He moved to openly include transgender students in 2015 after Smith denied admission to transgender woman Calliope Wong in 2013, sparking a wave of on-campus activism at women’s colleges. Although Smith’s admissions policy does not explicitly include transgender men, the college does provide support for transgender male students.
Smith College it says so It is “actively working to expand support for transgender students” and providing resources, including “trans-affirming” healthcare and peer support. The college also says the campus has single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms and an all-gender locker room with private locker and shower areas.
An investigation was opened upon the response civil rights complaint It was filed by Defending Education, a conservative nonprofit organization with a mission to protect schools from “activists imposing harmful agendas.”
Nicholas Hite, senior counsel Lambda LegalThe civil rights organization, which focuses on LGBTQ rights, said it was notable that the complaint did not originate from anyone at Smith College.
“The communities that these policies and these institutions serve are really happy that they chose to go to these places,” Hite said. “They often chose to go to these places specifically because of their inclusive policies.”
She added that she sees the acceptance of transgender women as a natural extension of the mission of women’s colleges. “Women’s colleges came into being because of gender-based oppression,” she said. “It seems to me that the inclusion of trans women is a perfectly logical step in keeping with the goal of creating an educational opportunity for people who are oppressed on the basis of gender.”
Minter, who has worked on several cases challenging the Trump administration’s anti-transgender policies, said the use of Title IX reflects “the misuse and weaponization of anti-discrimination laws to do the exact opposite of the purpose for which those laws were enacted.”
Title IX, he said, is intended to “protect people from all forms of discrimination based on sex, including discrimination against transgender individuals.”
Text of Title IX itself is short and does not attempt to define sex or gender. Under the Obama and Biden administrations, Title IX was passed to include: Protections for transgender students. But Trump reversed those protections during both of his presidencies.
Minter said the investigation into Smith College will likely cause fear and anxiety for transgender students and youth.
He said the administration is “trying to destroy every place that is safe for transgender youth in this country.”
“This is a brutal vendetta against a group of small and defenseless children,” he said. “And it’s past time for anyone who cares about how these young people and their families must feel to really stand up to this.”
CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
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