Yahoo News Students At Women's College Vote to Admit All Nonbinary, Trans Applicants — But School Has 'No Plan' To Change
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Students at Wellesley College in Massachusetts have voted to approve a referendum that would allow all nonbinary and transgender individuals to attend the school — but the school is pushing back.
The student referendum — which requested that Wellesley admit transgender men and adopt gender-neutral language on campus — passed on Tuesday, according to The Boston Globe and CNN.
However, Wellesley President Paula A. Johnson said in a statement to The Boston Globe, "there is no plan" to change the school's admission policy in connection to the ballot initiative, which she calls "non-binding."
Currently, the school "admits eligible applicants who consistently identify and live as women, including cis, trans and nonbinary students," Johnson noted in the statement addressing the referendum's success.
The college currently admits transgender women and nonbinary persons but says "those assigned female at birth who identify as men are not eligible for admission," The Boston Globe reported.
In the meantime, Johnson says the school "will continue to engage all students in the important work of building an inclusive academic community where everyone feels they belong."
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Wellesley College was founded as an all-women's school in 1870, according to the school's website.
On its gender policy webpage, Wellesley College specifically says trans men and nonbinary men are ineligible for admission. "Wellesley does not accept applications from men. Those assigned female at birth who identify as men are not eligible for admission," according to the website.
But the referendum that passed Tuesday aims to change these rules, in addition to replacing "all gender-specific language with gender-neutral language in reference to its student body," according to CNN.
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An exit poll showed students overwhelmingly supported the referendum, with 765 of 849 students signaling their support, per the Globe's report. An official tally has not been released.
But the proposal has not received the same support from the college's president. Last week, Johnson penned a letter to students saying the school was committed to diversity but does not want to alter its mission and identity as a college exclusively for those who identify as women.
"Wellesley is a women's college that admits cis, trans, and nonbinary students — all who consistently identify as women," Johnson wrote on March 6. "Wellesley is also an inclusive community that embraces students, alumnae, faculty, and staff of diverse gender identities.
"I believe the two ways of seeing Wellesley are not mutually exclusive," she continued. "Rather, this is who we are: a women's college and a diverse community."
In response, The Wellesley News Editorial Board said both President Johnson and the Board of Trustees "must be held equally responsible for the College's transphobic rhetoric."
The Board also expressed its "unequivocal support for transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people — at Wellesley and everywhere."
"We disapprove of and entirely disagree with President Johnson's email," the Board said. "As journalists, we understand the power of rhetoric to do good or harm."
Wellesley College was among the first women's colleges to accept transgender women as students in 2015, according to WBUR. The school accepted its first openly trans student in 2017.
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Wellesley College would not be the first women's college in Massachusetts to allow all nonbinary and transgender individuals to apply, however.
Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley changed its admissions policy to include all nonbinary and transgender individuals in 2014, according to its website.
