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Students at the school — whose famous alumni include Hillary Clinton — are revolting over the administration's exclusion of transgender males and some non-binary students, putting the national spotlight squarely on the famous campus in the hills west of Boston.
If you are assigned at birth as a woman but identify as a man you can't get into Wellesley. This policy can cause students to hide their true identity in order to be admitted to the campus, and stay in the closet.
But if you are assigned at birth as a man and identify as a woman you are allowed to enroll.
These policies are at the heart of the controversy at Wellesley, where students recently took a non-binding vote to change the school's "transphobic" stance so transgender males and all non-binary students can attend.
Students claim the school's exclusionary policies are just the latest slight to the transgender community, which is under onslaught around the country. The president of the college government, Alexandra Brooks, told the Wellesley News that the school's administration and board of trustees "represents a Wellesley from 50 years ago, which is very much not the Wellesley of today."
The old guard at Wellesley is scrambling to do damage control but it's fighting a failing battle. The college could eventually get dragged into court and the administration will lose.
But for now, Wellesley President Paula Johnson is holding the line, struggling to hold on to the school's all-female legacy. She wrote this week that Wellesley does not plan on changing its admission policies despite the students' ballot measure passing.
"Although there is no plan to revisit our mission as a women's college or our admissions policy, we will continue to engage all students in the important work of building an inclusive academic community where everyone feels they belong," Johnson said.
The problem is that at its heart the school's admission policy is exclusionary to certain groups of people.
Wellesley's gender policy is that it "invites applications from all those who live as women and consistently identify as women," including transgender women and non-binary people "who were assigned female at birth and who feel they belong in our community of women."
Does that mean transgender males and non-binary students who don't "feel they belong" in the women's college are out of luck?
Wonder where Hillary Clinton stands on this policy?
All it would take is a few tweets from her in support of students and the college would be put in a possibly untenable position.
Wellesley's gender policies will eventually collapse, it's just a matter of time.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Joe Battenfeld
Boston Herald/(TNS)
Joe Battenfeld is a veteran Boston Herald political columnist and multimedia reporter.
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