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Barnard College votes to admit transgender women

Barnard College votes to admit transgender women
Barnard College
Barnard College Seth Wenig, AP

NEW YORK — Barnard College has decided to admit transgender women, becoming the latest women’s college to issue a new policy acknowledging the fluidity and complexity of gender.

The policy, announced Thursday, says Barnard will consider applicants “who consistently live and identify as women.” That excludes transgender men, or applicants born female but identifying as male. The decision is an attempt to balance Barnard’s identity as a women’s college with what the school calls “recognition of our changing world and an evolving understanding of gender identity.”

Though it won’t consider transgender men for admission, the school announced it would still give its full support to any student who makes such a transition while enrolled.

The decision makes Barnard the last of the traditional Seven Sisters colleges to update their admissions policies. In the last nine months or so, each school has come up with a slightly different formula. Over a period of several months, President Debora Spar led five town halls and one virtual town hall for students, faculty or alumni, and conducted an online survey that drew more than 900 responses.

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“As expected, a wide range of passionate and deeply held beliefs were discussed and debated,” Spar and board of trustees chairman Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald wrote in a joint letter to the community Thursday, following the board vote a day earlier. “But on two main points, the responses were compelling and clear. There was no question that Barnard must reaffirm its mission as a college for women. And there was little debate that trans women should be eligible for admission to Barnard.”

In excluding trans men, Barnard’s policy is in line with that announced recently by Smith College. On the other hand, Mount Holyoke College decided last fall that it would consider both trans women and trans men for admission.

Transgender student policies at other women’s colleges

Mills College, Oakland, Calf.
Mills College, Oakland, Calf.

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Barnard College issued a new policy Thursday saying it will now admit transgender women. The decision at the Manhattan campus follows those at a number of women’s colleges across the country over the past year. The policies, which all acknowledge changing norms regarding gender, differ in their breadth. Here’s a look at some of the others:

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE

Will consider eligible for admission transgender women, intersex individuals who do not identify as male, individuals assigned female at birth who have not taken medical or legal steps to identify as male, and individuals assigned female at birth who do not identify as either female or male.

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

Will consider for admission transgender women, transgender men, those born female who do not identify with either gender, those born female but not identifying as male or female, and those born male who identify as “other” but that identity includes female. Not considered for admission: those born male who identify as male.

SMITH COLLEGE

Will consider eligible for admission transgender women but not transgender men, nor individuals who don’t identify as either female or male. Those who become trans men while at Smith have full support.

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MILLS COLLEGE

In August became the first women’s college in the United States to accept applications from transgender women and those applicants “assigned female at birth who do not fit on the gender binary.”

WELLESLEY COLLEGE

Will consider any applicant who lives as a woman and consistently identifies as a woman. The policy excludes trans men but includes those assigned female at birth who are “non-binary.” Like at Smith and Barnard, those who transition while at Wellesley can stay and graduate.

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