Smith, Mount Holyoke and Wellesley colleges in Massachusetts are among New England women’s institutions of higher education reaffirming their support of trans women on their campuses despite the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI.
Reports the Boston Globe:
With the White House confronting universities over DEI policies, some women’s colleges are using the moment to reassert their core values, even adopting a posture of defiance — especially those that have healthy endowments. “DEI is not just in our DNA, it is specifically who we are,” said Mount Holyoke president Danielle Holley.
And President Trump’s crusade against it “is absolutely an attack on groups in our country that have been historically marginalized, women and LGBTQ people being at the top of that list,” she added. “So for us, it’s very important that we stand on our values, because without our values, we don’t exist.”
On his first day back in office, Trump pledged to “defend women’s rights” by recognizing sex as immutable and binary — biologically male or female — and ordered federal agencies to “ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”
In the spring, Smith drew the glare of conservative websites for inviting former US assistant secretary for health Admiral Rachel L. Levine, a transgender woman, to speak at commencement that May. The next month, a conservative watchdog group filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education against Smith, alleging its admissions policy violates Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in educational programs receiving federal financial assistance.
In a recent interview, Smith president Sarah Willie-LeBreton said the school has not heard from the DOE and she wasn’t prepared to “offer legitimacy” to the complaint by commenting on it.
“Our admissions policies are firmly within the law, and we’re very proud of those policies,” she said.
Read the complete Boston Globe article here.
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