Wellesley College Students Vote to Open Admissions to All Nonbinary, Transgender Applicants
Students at Wellesley College voted on Tuesday to accept applications from all nonbinary and transgender students to attend the women’s liberal arts school.
Students were asked in a nonbinding referendum if they supported a proposal to the board of trustees that would admit females who identify as men, as well as all nonbinary individuals. The current policy is to accept students who “live as a woman and consistently identify as a woman,” including males who identify as women, as well as nonbinary students who “were assigned female at birth and who feel they belong in our community of women.”
Officials at the Massachusetts school of some 2,300 students say they have “no plan” to change the school’s admissions policy after the referendum passed.
“Although there is no plan to revisit its mission as a women’s college or its admissions policy, the College will continue to engage all students, including transgender male and nonbinary students, in the important work of building an inclusive academic community where everyone feels they belong,” Wellesley’s Director of Media Relations Stacey Schmeidel told CNN. While the college does not accept applications from biological women who identify as men, it has a policy of supporting female students who transition to men after they are admitted.
The referendum also included a proposal that the college replace all “gender-specific language … in reference to its student body,” including swapping out use of the word “women” in favor of the word “students” and replacing she/her pronouns with they/them, CNN reported.
The referendum came one week after students staged a sit-in protest outside Wellesley president Paula A. Johnson’s office after she noted the importance of students’ gender to the college’s mission.
“It’s important that all members of this community feel seen,” Johnson wrote in a letter to students. “Some transgender male and nonbinary students whose identities have evolved during their time here say they feel excluded by the College’s use of the words ‘women’ and ‘alumnae’—and feel that their individual identities are not embraced.”
“At the same time, many students who are committed to Wellesley’s mission as a women’s college and who identify as women have been publicly criticized for that view and have felt pressured to describe Wellesley as a historically women’s college,” she added.
She went on to add: “I believe the two ways of seeing Wellesley are not mutually exclusive. Rather, this is who we are: a women’s college and a diverse community.”
