NORTHAMPTON — The U.S. Department of Education has opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College, roughly one year after the national, conservative grassroots organization Defending Education filed a complaint alleging that the women’s college discriminates against biological women by admitting transgender students.
Smith College, now 155 years old, has admitted transgender and nonbinary students for more than a decade. While this policy is common among U.S. women’s colleges, Defending Education argued in a written statement that Smith’s admissions policy — which allows students who “self-identify” as women to enroll — violates federal law.
The group first filed the complaint in 2025, leading the Department of Education to launch its probe on Monday. Defending Education argues that the college’s acceptance of students born male and its use of all-gender bathrooms and locker rooms violates Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in any federally-funded institutions.
The complaint cites United States v. Virginia, a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that struck down the male-only admissions policy of the Virginia Military Institute because it did not provide equal opportunity to women.
“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,” Defending Education Vice President Sarah Perry said in a statement. “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.”
Smith College has accepted transgender students since 2015, a policy shift that followed the 2013 rejection of applicant Calliope Wong. At the time, Wong, a transgender woman, was deemed ineligible for admission. Wong attended and graduated from the University of Connecticut and before her death by suicide in 2021, according to UConn Magazine. She was a transgender activist, artist and musician.
Today, the college’s Gender Identity & Expression page notes that the college admits transgender and nonbinary students based on “self-identification,” or without the requirement of surgery. The Schacht Center, an on-campus healthcare clinic, provides transgender primary care, including hormone therapy.
Carolyn McDaniel, Smith’s senior director of media relations, acknowledged the investigation but declined further comment, affirming the school’s commitment to institutional values and civil rights compliance.
“The college is fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws,” McDaniel said. “The college does not comment on pending government investigations.”
On Monday, Kimberly Richey, who is the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, stated in a written statement that the inclusion of transgender women raises “serious concerns about privacy, fairness and compliance” under federal law.
“An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males,” Richey said. “The Trump Administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense.”
Despite allegations that the school’s admissions policy discriminates against cisgender students, the majority of those students interviewed Tuesday afternoon expressed support for the college’s acceptance of transgender students.
Smith architecture student Eva Tierney-Trevor, now in her senior year, said she saw the inclusion of transgender students on campus as a general enrichment to campus — an opinion she said was generally shared among her peers.
“Trans people are welcomed here, and I feel better with them being here,” Tierney-Trevor said. “I wish that the government could see that.”
Class of 2026 engineering student Olivia Morningstar echoed Tierney-Trevor’s remarks, adding that she was concerned about the investigation and hoped Smith would be able to continue its inclusivity.
“Smith should be a safe space for all students, and I love, respect and stand with my trans and nonbinary siblings,” Morningstar said. “It’s very scary. I don’t know how it will go, but I’m hoping that Smith will remain a safe space for education.”
