Wellesley College, the highly rated liberal arts institution for women in suburban Boston, has joined several other leading women’s colleges in clarifying its admissions policies regarding transgender students. The college’s board of trustees approved language that states that “Wellesley will consider for admission any applicant who lives as a woman and consistently identifies as a woman.” Any student who is admitted, but later no longer identifies as a woman, will be permitted to remain enrolled and graduate from Wellesley.
In a letter to the college community, Laura Daignault Gates, chair of the board of trustees and H. Kim Bottomly, president of Wellesley College, wrote that “it is clear to us that the concept of a women’s college, and the reasons for having one, are as valid today as they have been at any time in the past.”
The college’s leaders also said that “the College will continue to use female pronouns and the language of sisterhood, both of which are important components of our mission and identity.”