Smith College Says It Will Consider “Self-Identified Transgender Women” for Admission

Smith College, the highly rated liberal arts college for women in Northampton, Massachusetts, has followed the lead of many other top-ranked women’s colleges and has clarified who is eligible for admission to its undergraduate programs. The board of trustees approved a resolution calling for the consideration for admission of “self-identified transgender women.” According to the new guidelines, “applicants who were assigned male at birth but identify as women are eligible for admission.”

The college also said that “the admission policy does not affect students who transition during their time at Smith. Once admitted, every student has the full support of the college and this includes transmen.”

The college also stated that it would continue to use “gendered language, including female pronouns, in institutional communications.”

Kathleen McCartney, president of Smith College, and Elizabeth Mugar Eveillard, chair of the board of trustees, issued a statement on the revised policies. The two leaders said that “the mission of Smith College is to educate women of promise for lives of distinction. In the years since Smith’s founding, concepts of female identity have evolved. As we reflect on how Smith lives its values — a commitment to access and diversity, to respecting the dignity of every individual, and to educating women for leadership across all realms of society — we will be called, in changing times, to consider anew how we will choose to be a women’s college.”