The Department of Education launched a Title IX investigation into Smith College, an all-women’s liberal arts institution in Massachusetts, for admitting trans women as students. The investigation, initiated in response to a complaint filed by Defending Education, a conservative nonprofit, accuses Smith of violating Title IX by “admitting biological men and granting them access to women-only spaces, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams.” Smith College clarified that it “considers for admission any applicants who self-identify as women; cis, trans, and nonbinary women are eligible to apply to Smith” and stated it remains “fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws.”
The Department of Education claims that Smith’s admissions policy violates the single-sex exception under Title IX, arguing that “an all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single sex under Title IX.” Shannon Minter, an attorney with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, characterized the investigation as government overreach into private institutions. Minter stated that women’s colleges “should be able to do freely without being worried about persecution by the federal government” when they admit transgender students. He described the investigation as reflecting a broader strategy by the current administration to eliminate any inclusion of transgender people in American society.
This investigation exemplifies Trump administration efforts to restrict transgender rights across multiple policy areas. Trump has implemented sweeping measures including banning trans people from the military, suing states for allowing trans athletes on high school sports teams, restricting trans and nonbinary children’s access to gender-affirming care, and issuing a Day 1 executive order redefining gender as “sex” determined by biology at conception. These actions target a demographic representing just 1% of the U.S. population ages 13 and older, according to the Williams Institute.
Smith College adapted its admissions policies in 2015 to explicitly include trans students after denying admission to trans woman Calliope Wong in 2013, which triggered campus activism. The college provides trans-affirming healthcare, peer support, single-occupancy all-gender restrooms, and an all-gender locker room with private changing and showering areas. Nicholas Hite, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, noted that the complaint did not originate from anyone at Smith College and that trans students chose these institutions specifically for their inclusive policies.
Minter argued that the investigation constitutes “misuse and weaponization of anti-discrimination laws to do the very opposite of the thing those laws were enacted for,” stating that Title IX was meant to protect people against all forms of sex-based discrimination, including discrimination against transgender people. He warned that the investigation would likely cause fear and anxiety for trans students, describing the administration’s actions as “seeking to destroy every single safe place for transgender young people in this country” and characterizing them as “a vicious vendetta against a small vulne(Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/us/smith-college-title-ix-trans-students?Date=20260504&Profile=CNN,CNN+International&utm_content=1777937654&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcARm0KRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe36UO6J33TOcE7wi1oenXSP3QdfbmnHil1wErZeyTQL11CBaq92qix64Zbj0_aem_WB4yfWOoKwkZg3ewFGLJdw)rable group of kids.”
