This fall, Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts became the second all women’s college in the U.S. to begin accepting applications from transgender students. The announcement was received positively on the South Hadley campus, but it’s also raising questions about Mount Holyoke’s identity as the oldest women’s college in the country. At our On Campus blog, Kirk Carapezza reports:
When Mount Holyoke president Lynn Pasquerella made the announcement during this year’s convocation, tears welled in her eyes. She announced that the school was adopting a new policy welcoming applications from any qualified student who is female or who identifies as a woman.
It’s a little complicated, but what it all means is that Mount Holyoke will consider a student’s application even if they were were biologically born male, but identify as a woman. The policy also includes biologically-born females who identify as males.
