Transwomen Applaud ‘Evolving’ Views Regarding Admissions

Smith College President Kathleen McCartney amended the admission policy with an eye toward adhering to the school’s mission as “a woman’s college.”Smith College is the latest all-women’s college to announce that it will consider individuals who self-identify as women in their admissions process starting next fall. The decision is a break from previous policies and catches Smith up with schools such as Wellesley and Mills College, who made similar announcements earlier this academic year.

“The construct of what it means to be a woman has evolved, I think relatively recently,” said Smith President Kathleen McCartney. “There’s a growing acceptance in our culture that transwomen are women.” McCartney said that at the end of last year, she and Smith’s board chair Elizabeth Mugar Eveillard decided to start a campus conversation about the issue, inviting responses from alumnae and students.

Smith still considers itself a women’s college. Under Smith’s old policies, applicants had to be legally female at the time of application, with corresponding legal documentation in the correct gender pronoun to match. The new policy eliminates such requirements.

To change gender on certain documents, such as birth certificates, some states require that individuals undergo sex reassignment surgery. Transactivists point out that high school seniors applying to college are unlikely to have completed the surgery, thus disqualifying many from applying to all-women’s colleges under old policies.

“All colleges are called upon from time to time to reevaluate how they operate,” McCartney said. “We felt called upon to reevaluate our admissions policy. At the same time we really wanted to adhere to our mission as a woman’s college.”

Transwoman and activist Calliope Wong brought attention to seeming contradictions in Smith’s admissions policies in 2013, the year she was applying to college. Her application and application fee were sent back to her with a letter explaining that Smith applicants must be female at the time they apply. Inspired in part by Wong’s story, a transactivist group at Smith, Q&A, started a campaign to ensure that students who self-identify as women would be considered in the application process.

As is the policy at most all-women’s colleges, Smith supports and graduates students who transition to male after arriving on campus. “Part of our statement has always been that Smith accepts women and graduates students,” said Greta Stacy, Smith SGA president.