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A college’s transition

Women’s colleges should admit transgender students

The New York Times’ recent article, “When Women Become Men at Wellesley,” examines the difficult political and social issues women’s colleges are currently tangled in as they attempt to sort out their identities and purposes in a world where gender is recognized as a more fluid concept.

The Times tell the stories of students who were born physically female and then decided to transition to male while attending a women’s college. Most of them said they experienced a mix of acceptance and reticence from their peers. None of them have been asked by the administration to leave the school.

Women’s colleges have taken different approaches when it comes to transgender students. Trans men (students born biologically female who now identify as men) are allowed to remain at most women’s colleges if they identify as women when applying. In addition to allowing trans men who transition after enrolling to stay enrolled, colleges should consider all applications from trans men who transition before applying — because it would be arbitrary to reject the latter if the former are accepted. Another argument is that trans men should be accepted because they have lived as women and understand the struggles women face.

But this does not address the issue of trans women (students born biologically male who now identify as women). Some think it would be too risky to admit trans women in case they were not fully committed to a sex change and decided to retain their biological sex. But others argue trans women’s experiences are more compatible with other students at women’s colleges, and to turn them away would be discriminatory. Trans women want to be recognized as women, and to be rejected because their sex does not line up with their gender identity faults them for something they cannot control.

Transgender students experience hardship because they don’t fit neatly into either of the two categories every other person is expected to fit into. Part of the transgender movement is recognizing that gender is not a binary. Students can no longer be expected to fit into one category or the other. Gender identification is a part of identity people are born with, so to deny admission based on that is inherently discriminatory.

Mount Holyoke recently changed their admissions policies to consider any applicants “born biologically female, whether identified as woman, man, neither or ‘other’ and anyone born biologically male who identifies as a woman or ‘other.’” Essentially, the school now only excludes students born biologically male who still identify as male.

Mount Holyoke’s decision is a positive step to ending discrimination against transgender students. The debate over women’s colleges accepting only trans men or only trans women will ultimately still exclude students based on arbitrary reasoning. Some students may use male names and prefer male pronouns even though they do not physically change their female bodies at all. Some may not identify as either gender. The only way not to marginalize this minority of students is to adopt a policy akin to Mount Holyoke’s.

The biggest counterargument to this proposal is that if women’s colleges allow transgender students to be admitted, they will lose a crucial part of their identity. We respect this concern about identity — women’s colleges have been successful in encouraging leadership among women by catering specifically to female students. Professors often tailor their lessons to women, asking questions that only use “she” and “her” as pronouns for the subject. But it is becoming increasingly clear that restricting the definition of “woman” is a discriminatory practice, and it is not worth uplifting one minority group if another is oppressed in the process. Women may be at the center of world in women’s colleges, but transgender students are left on the outside.

It seems doubtful that women’s colleges will be able to retain their identity as institutions that cater specifically to women’s experiences, as a more fluid definition of gender is gaining acceptance in greater society. Women’s colleges must adapt to the changing climate; they can still contribute to the goal of expanding the space of higher education to include a diversity of students who break gender barriers. Change may be a slow process, but it is a necessary one.

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