Trustees at Barnard have been considering whether or not trans women are women as far as their admissions policy goes.
The time has come for us to examine how we, as a women’s college, define ‘women,’ and how, consequently, we both admit and graduate students.
--Debora L. Spar, Barnard president
At issue, Barnard students and administrators say, is how to view applications from transgender women — that is, students born with male characteristics who identify as female or fluid. Do they belong at a college for women?
Currently Barnard considers application from transgender students on a case-by-case basis.
The definition of what it means to be a woman at a women’s college — that’s changing. The implications range from housing to health services to the pronouns used in class.
--Joanne Kwong, Barnard spokeswoman
Barnard, an undergraduate college in Manhattan affiliated with Columbia University, currently considers applications from transgender students on a case-by-case basis, Ms. Spar wrote. It has a number of trans masculine students — those born with female characteristics who identify as male or neutral — but no trans women, said Ms. Kwong and several Barnard transgender students. There are transgender women at Columbia College, which admits both men and women.
Spar announced four "community forums" to discuss the issue, scheduled for January and February: two for students and alumnae, and two for faculty and staff. They have also created an online form to allow people to express their feelings.
Mount Holyoke College, Mills College, Simmons College and Scripps College
[Scripps] Trustees approved a new policy this month to admit applicants identified as female on their birth certificates. The school also will admit those who self-identify as women, which could include those born male who identify as female. The policy is effective for students applying for fall 2016.
Colleges and universities have always led the way in policy discussions about social justice and expanding access,. It's not a surprise that students who we charge with thinking critically about institutions in general would be having these conversations at women's colleges right now. We're laying the foundation for a broader discussion about what it means to be a women's college in the 21st century.
--Scripps President Lori Bettison-Varga
There has been some pushback.
Trans students argue that gender neutral language should be used to encompass their presence. But are we not, by erasing feminized language from our documents and rhetoric, erasing the female identities from a women's college? What could be more ironic?
--Letter from more than 100 alumnae
Many current students sought a stronger policy. A petition presented to the board in October and signed by more than half of the 1,000 students urged trustees to include applicants who don't identify as either male or female, regardless of the gender they were assigned at birth.
Student government President Alex Frumkin acknowledged the disconnect for many as to how a women's college can remain true to its mission while admitting students who identify as men. Is it still a sisterhood if brothers are included?
But the evolution has already been underway, she said. The student association changed its bylaws four years ago to adopt language that's gender inclusive — referring, for example, to Scripps "students" rather than Scripps "women. " Most bathrooms are gender neutral, and male students from other Claremont campuses have long been a presence in Scripps classrooms.
The rules at Smith and Wellesley are more problematic, requiring that the application and all supporting materials (transcripts, letters of recommendation) must identify the applicant as a woman. That basically means that only transwomen who came out in high school will have the opportunity to attend.
For many alumnae, the approval of the new admissions policy at Scripps is not just disappointing. It is heartbreaking," said Kelsey Phipps, a Washington, D.C. attorney and advocate in the LGBTQ community who graduated from Scripps in 2001. "With its decision to admit male-identified students, many alumnae who believe deeply in women's education feel abandoned by the college.... In the end, no argument, logic or passion could derail that hurtling train. We were steamrolled.
Transgender students, meanwhile, warn that the more inclusive policy will not by itself change attitudes.
I'm very leery that a policy change is being used as a representation of actual change. The atmosphere on campus is still very focused on gendered people, on women assigned female at birth. Change is still going to require a lot of education.
--Eli Erlick, 19, trans woman Pitzer College student who attends most of her classes at Scripps because of her major in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies
What is amazing about the students at Scripps is that they're ready for this change, ready to have a more inclusive policy and to welcome new folks on campus. People are afraid of a tidal wave of trans students going to Scripps, and that's just not going to happen. But women's colleges are absolutely leading the way.
--Adriana di Bartolo, director of the Queer Resource Center of the Claremont Colleges