Trump admin investigates women’s-only Smith College for admitting trans males

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened the investigation on Monday, which will probe whether the school violated Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 by allowing males into women’s spaces.

"Title IX contains a single-sex exception that allows colleges to enroll all-male or all-female student bodies—but the exception applies on the basis of biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity. An all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single sex under Title IX," the department said in a press release.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said, "An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males. Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law. The Trump Administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense."

The move comes after Defending Education filed a complaint against the school in June over the school’s policies, including its admission policy that allows “people who identify as women—cis, trans and nonbinary women" to apply for admission. The applicant needs to only self-identify as female to apply.

Defending Education said that its policies on "'Gender Identity and Expression’ indicate that '[e]very single occupancy restroom on campus is designated all-gender, and more and more multi-stall bathrooms are as well.' The college also advertises '[a]n all-gender locker room in the athletic facilities,' and the college’s Health & Wellness Center 'provides trans-affirming primary care, including hormone therapy.'"

CNN called the investigation "the Trump administration’s latest move to limit trans rights," claiming that the department was investigating Smith "for admitting trans women."

Vice President and Senior Legal Fellow at Defending Education, Sarah Parshall Perry, said, "Smith College has a longstanding reputation as a women’s college of exclusive excellence. But that hasn’t prevented it from falling victim to the fiction of 'transgender' womanhood. Admitting men who feel like women means that the institution — formerly one of the nation’s prestigious 'Seven Sisters' all-women’s colleges — is no longer for women only."

She added, "Smith also discriminates against women by operating bathroom and facilities policies that open spaces once reserved for women’s safety and privacy to anyone who 'identifies' as a woman. That makes a mockery of the 'all-women' institution, and Defending Education looks forward to the outcome of the US Department of Education’s investigation."