Trump Administration Targets Smith College for Trans Student Enrollment in Latest Attack on Trans Rights

The Trump administration is doubling down on its assault on transgender Americans by opening a federal investigation into Smith College, a historic all-women’s liberal arts institution in Massachusetts, for admitting transgender women. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on May 4 that it is probing whether Smith’s policy allowing anyone who self-identifies as a woman to enroll violates Title IX protections against sex discrimination.

Since 2015, Smith College has welcomed transgender women students, explicitly stating on its website that cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary women are eligible to apply. The college’s inclusive admissions policy followed a backlash in 2013 when it denied a transgender applicant, prompting a policy review that aligned with evolving understandings of gender identity.

But the Trump administration is now weaponizing Title IX to attack this policy. Officials argue that Title IX’s single-sex exceptions only apply to biological sex, not gender identity. They claim that admitting transgender women, whom they misleadingly label “biological men,” strips women’s colleges of their meaning and violates federal law by granting access to women-only spaces such as dorms, bathrooms, and sports teams.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey stated bluntly, “An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males.” She framed the investigation as a fight to “restore common sense,” echoing the administration’s long-standing, discredited narrative that transgender rights threaten women’s privacy and fairness.

This attack fits a broader pattern: the Trump administration has already suspended the option for an “X” gender marker on passports and banned transgender women from participating in women’s sports. President Trump issued an executive order defining sex as immutable and limited strictly to male or female at birth, disregarding decades of medical and legal consensus on gender identity.

Smith College, founded in 1871 and enrolling about 2,500 undergraduates, receives federal funding for financial aid and research, making it subject to Title IX. Other prominent women’s colleges, including Wellesley, Scripps, and Bryn Mawr, also accept transgender women, underscoring the widespread shift toward inclusion in higher education.

Smith declined to comment on the investigation but affirmed its commitment to civil rights compliance. Meanwhile, LGBTQ advocates and civil rights organizations have condemned the administration’s move as discriminatory and an assault on transgender students’ rights and safety.

The Trump administration’s probe into Smith College is not just a bureaucratic review — it’s a politically motivated attack aimed at erasing transgender identities and rolling back hard-won protections. It threatens to undermine the dignity and educational opportunities of transgender women nationwide while signaling that the administration will continue to weaponize federal agencies to enforce regressive, exclusionary policies.

We will keep tracking this story as it develops, exposing the Trump administration’s relentless campaign against transgender rights and democratic values.