All eyes will be on Spelman College — one of two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) solely for women — as it joins the ranks of all-women’s colleges that officially have an admissions policy for transgender students this 2018-2019 academic year.
Although trans women and other students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) have attended the college since its inception, the Atlanta-based HBCU’s updated admissions and enrollment policy extending admissions consideration to trans women comes with new challenges and expectations from internal and external institutional constituents.
The new admissions policy considering “women students including students who consistently live and self-identify as women, regardless of their gender assignment at birth,” continues the college’s “fervent belief in the power of the Spelman Sisterhood,” wrote Spelman’s president, Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, in a letter to the college community last September.
Admitted women students who transition while still a student will be permitted to continue their studies and graduate from the college, according to the policy.
In alignment with Spelman’s mission and policy commitment to inclusivity around the experience of womanhood, college officials have pushed for transgender inclusivity to extend to “daily operations,” says a faculty member at the college, who wished to remain anonymous. This consists of having class syllabi that include “declarations of being an open environment” as well as offering courses that avoid the use of heteronormative language — including in assignments or assessments — and faculty and staff members posting a sign on their office doors to help LGBTQ students feel welcomed.
Last April, a Transgender Policy Task Force made up of representatives from Spelman’s administration, board of trustees, student body, housing and academic departments convened to educate task force participants and members of the Spelman community on issues affecting the consideration of admission eligibility and enrollment of transgender students in the months before the policy announcement.
And last July, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman, launched the Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. Scholars Program and lecture series, giving two students who self-identified as LGBTQ advocates a renewable $25,000 scholarship each.
