Smith College Students Petition to End Transgender Discrimination in Admission Policies

Smith College Students Petition to End Transgender Discrimination in Admission Policies Jerekeys via Flickr After rejecting Calliope Wong, a male-to-female transgender high school student, outraged Smith College students presented a petition with over 4,000 signatures to the college’s Office of Admissions, urging the school to adopt admissions policies that are welcoming to all transgender women applicants. With support from GLAAD, Smith QA has been pressuring Smith to end transgender discrimination since the scandal of Wong’s rejection began. After garnering national support, Smith QA held a rally which reaped thousands on Thursday May 2nd and delivered the petition to Smith’s Director of Admissions, Deb Shaver. At the time of delivery, Shaver announced that a committee will be formed to further address and study issues related to transgender admissions processes for applicants to the college. The committee will start meeting in September, once the new academic year begins. Afterward, student coordinators of Smith QA were given the opportunity to informally meet with Admissions staff, where students said they were told that Smith College will stop using the gender marker on the FAFSA form when evaluating transgender candidates for admission. The more than 4,000 signatures on our Change.org petition show that support for treating trans women equally in Smith Colleges admissions practices is strong, both within and outside of our school, said Elli Palmer, a Smith student involved with Smith QA. As a committee forms to address this issue, we will continue to advocate for a clear policy from Smith that fully protects trans women applicants from unfair and discriminatory obstacles during the admissions process. After coming under national scrutiny for their discriminatory admission policies toward transgender students, the actions of Smith’s admissions staff could spur a national precedent for how colleges and universities work with transgender applicants. No young woman should be denied the opportunity to learn simply because of who she is, said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. That Smith is having this discussion and listening to the community is a positive step, but the school still needs to ensure that no transgender woman is denied the chance to apply. Then, Smith will once again be blazing trails for women and setting an example for educational institutions everywhere.