- In what it calls an effort to “uphold the law” and “restore common sense,” the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating Smith College – a women's college located in Northampton, Massachusetts – for admitting “biological men” and allowing them access to women’s “intimate spaces,” such as dorms, locker rooms and bathrooms, and to compete the school’s athletic teams.
- “An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law.”
- Though Title IX permits a single-sex exception that allows institutions to enroll all-male or all-female student bodies, that department contends that the exception applies on the basis of biological sex, “not subjective gender identity.” The department argues further that all-women’s colleges are meant to maintain a “particular form of sorority and camaraderie.”
The bigger picture:
When Smith College began admitting transwomen in 2015, it followed a year-long study that concluded that the “concepts of female identity have evolved.”
The U.S. Department of Education's current investigation arose from a 2025 complaint filed by Defending Education, a conservative advocacy group, which took issue with Smith College’s admissions practices and its policies regarding access to locker rooms and bathrooms and allowing trans women to compete on women’s athletic teams, POLITICO reports.
Jillian Kinzie, associate director of the National Survey of Student Engagement at the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, said the Education Department's probe is misguided and that it’s “perfectly appropriate” for women’s colleges to enroll students who self-identify as women – including cis, trans, and nonbinary women. “Because they are intentionally designed for inclusion and women’s empowerment, women’s colleges are uniquely situated to support all the students they admit in an environment free of gender bias,” Kinzie said.
According Kinzie, research shows women’s colleges provide learning environments that “help women thrive, experience challenge, collaborate, lead, forge supportive networks and excel in fields where they have historically been excluded.”
