Transgender Woman Rejected from Smith Educational Opportunities for Trans Students

Transgender Woman Rejected from Smith Educational Opportunities for Trans Students Mount Holyoke College transgender alum Callum Angus holding up a sign in support of Calliope Wong for Smiths QA photo campaign. Smith College, a private women’s college in Massachusetts, rejected Calliope Wong, a male-to-female transgender applicant, twice due to a government financial aid document registering Wong as male. Though born male, Wong has identified as female for several years.   She applied to Smith College in Northampton on two separate occasions, and both times her materials and application fee were returned to her on the basis that “Smith is a women’s college, which means undergraduate applicants need to be female at the time of admission,” read a copy of the rejection letter Wong included on her blog. Prior to applying to Smith, Wong extensively researched the College’s policy on accepting transgender students. On her blog she claims to have spoken with Smiths Dean of Admissions, Debra Shaver, who allegedly told Wong that as long as all of her pronouns were female, then Wong’s application would be “consistent with what Smith is expecting.” Wong claimed the two discussed all matter of application materials and documents  to ensure Wongs  eligibility,   but “nowhere was there mention of FAFSA,” wrote Wong on her blog. Once her initial application was returned and she was denied consideration for admittance, Wong was shocked and heartbroken. With a reputation as an all-inclusive collegiate institution, Smith’s actions are puzzling to many. Noah Lewis, an attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense Education Fund in New York City has stood behind Wong and criticized Smith’s actions as discriminatory and unfounded. “Transgender students just want the same educational opportunities as other students, and federal law protects them from discrimination in education,” Lewis told Boston Magazine. “The only thing standing in the way of Smith admitting transgender women is Smith’s refusal to do it.   As an institution founded on principles of educational equity, Smith should just do the right thing and educate transgender women like other women.” Smith’s actions have ignited a national debate on the legal restrictions of educational opportunities for transgender students. It is a common misconception that federal law requires women’s colleges to admit only those who are or were once biologically female.  According to an article released in a 2012 issue of the Harvard Journal of Law Gender, a misuse of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is cited as the most common reasoning to account for informal discriminatory admission policies for same sex institutions:  â€œAlthough Title IX allows single-sex colleges to discriminate based on sex, they would be in violation of Title IX if they were to admit a student who was not the sex the particular institution serves. Therefore, if a woman’s college were to admit a student identifying as male (or not identifying as female), [or in Wong’s case legally classified as male,] the institution would jeopardize its federal funding.  Alternatively or additionally, instituti ons argue that if they admit individuals who do not identify as women they will be required to provide equal access accommodations, and their failure to do so would result in a Title IX violation.” As a result, Title IX does not force an institution to not admit transgender individuals, but rather it strives to force the institution to accommodate those individuals once they are enrolled. The legislation is meant to be protective but instead tends to be used as “a shield to criticism.” In short, there is no federal law explicitly requiring women’s colleges to admit individuals who were female at birth. It is merely the interpretation that several women’s colleges have chosen to adopt. Smith QA, a branch of the Smith student run organization, Students for Social Justice and  Institutional  Change contacted Wong regarding the legality of Smiths grounds for rejecting Wong and put her in contact with Jon OBergh,  Special  Assistant  Under  Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and Cameron Washington, Web Usability Specialist at FAFSA. After extensive discussion between the three, it was made clear to Wong that an individuals sex indicated on their FAFSA is used only for Selective Service; which according to the Military Selective Service Act  requires all males between the ages of 18 and 25  to register with the Selective Service System. The federal government is irrelevant in this conversation, wrote Wong in her blog. All concerns about my hypothetical admission endangering Smiths status as a  historical  womens college  receiving  federal funding? Irrelevant and wrong. The government does not care about my sex marker. On March 26th, Smith QA met with Smith administrators to discuss the treatment of Wongs  application and will continue to focus on creating a place for transgender women at the college. In additional support of Wong, Smith QA created a photo campaign to increase the  visibility of student and alumni support on the inclusion of transgender women at Smith. Callum  Angus, a female-to-male transgender Mount Holyoke alum of the class of 2011, submitted a photo to the  campaign. Angus is an intern at the Transgender Youth Equality Foundation  which advocates for the legal and medical rights of transgender and gender nonconforming kids and teens nationwide.  Through activism,  conference involvement, support groups and school outreach, the TYEF  provides a support network and voice for transgender youth. As a high school student applying to colleges, Ms. Wongs scenario resonates with many of the teens we work with who are looking toward college in the future, wrote Angus in an emailed  st atement.   One of the reasons we do the work we do is to educate society that a girl is a girl if she says shes a girl, regardless of surgeries and paperwork, and the same holds for trans boys. Laurie Fenlason, vice president of Public  Affairs  at Smith, eluded to the college working to create a  broader  policy that is  inclusive to transgender applicants while still faithful to its mission statement as a womens college. Similarly, Mount Holyoke College is following Smiths suite by updating its policies dealing with transgender applicants as to generate an  inclusive  admissions environment. Womens colleges are unique environments where experimentation with gender and sexuality is embraced more enthusiastically than in coeducational institutions, wrote Angus. I wont pretend to know exactly why that is, but if it wasnt for my four years at Mount Holyoke College, it would have taken me much longer to become self-aware as transgender and decide to transition.[...] I think as transgender people gain visibility in the coming years and make headway in winning civil rights, womens colleges have the unique opportunity to become key in one of the leading social justice issues of o ur time. But that wont happen if they follow Smiths lead.