One of Nation’s Oldest Women’s Colleges Accepts Transgender and Gender-Fluid Applicants
Smith College announced on May 4th that it will be accepting transgender and gender-fluid applicants this upcoming fall. As one of the nation’s oldest women’s colleges, progress is being made in Northampton, Massachusetts.
This policy will be applied to any student applying in Fall 2015 and the terms thereafter. College president Kathleen McCartney and board of trustees chair Elizabeth Mugar Eveillard announced on Smith’s website,
“The board’s decision affirms Smith’s unwavering mission and identity as a women’s college, our commitment to representing the diversity of women’s lived experiences and the college’s exceptional role in the advancement of women worldwide.”
Finally, Smith has joined the various other American women’s colleges in inciting progress in the transgender community – including Mills College, Mount Holyoke, Simmons, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley. Policies as such open the discourse on transgender identities and help others, even those not directly involved in the transgender community, understand what it means to identify as a woman.
Finally, Smith is living out their mission of Individual. Global. Exceptional. as a leader in the feminist plight of broadening the horizons for accepting and seamlessly integrating the transgender community, and giving transgender individuals the identity they deserve. Allowing transgender women to join the ranks of Smith graduates such as Sylvia Plath, Julia Child and Gloria Steinem is a win for not only the transgender community, but the community of women at large. This is an exciting step in the right direction for all women!
