An all-women’s college in Virginia is out with a new admission policy reported on Friday, Aug. 30, that bars transgender women from enrolling next school year, citing a document from more than 120 years ago. Sweet Briar College’s President and Chair of the school board Mary Pope Hutson said the rule stems from the legally binding will of its founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams, who died in 1900.
Hutson said the document requires the liberal arts school to “be a place for girls and young women.” She wrote in a letter that the phrase “must be interpreted as it was understood at the time the will was written.” The policy now requires applicants to “confirm that her sex assigned at birth is female, and that she consistently lives and identifies as a woman.”
However, the new rule sparked criticism. Many faculty members fear the guidelines will hurt already diminishing enrollment numbers. Women’s colleges have reportedly seen a decline in enrollment since the 1960s, and Sweet Briar College nearly shuttered in 2015 due to financial problems and falling enrollment.
Opponents of the new requirement also cited the board’s original interpretation of the will, which excluded non-white students. The institution had to get permission from a federal judge to accept Black students after Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Faculty voted overwhelming on Monday, Sept. 2, to rescind the admission policy.
Sweet Briar College’s Student Government Association called the policy “alienating” and “unnecessary.” The association’s president, who is nonbinary, said at least 10% of students use different pronouns and would not fit within the new policy. However, it is unclear how the admission rules would impact current students.
Hutson responded, saying that the college works to “ensure” all students “feel welcome,” adding, a “broader policy is a slippery slope toward co-education.”
Women’s colleges began to admit transgender women around a decade ago. However, at least three now bar transgender women. Private undergraduate colleges are exempt from Title IX, so, Sweet Briar College is not required to follow new rules from the Biden administration, banning discrimination based on gender identity.
