US College Adopts Policy Excluding Transgender Women from New Admissions

Photo : AP

Sweet Briar College, a private liberal arts institution for women located in Virginia, has introduced a controversial new admissions policy that bars transgender women from enrolling. The decision, which affects the upcoming academic year, positions Sweet Briar among the few remaining women’s colleges in the U.S. maintaining similar policies.

According to a report, college officials justified the new policy by referencing the will of the college's founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams, who passed away in 1900. The officials argue that Williams’s will stipulates the institution should serve “girls and young women,” and they assert that these terms should be interpreted as they were understood at the time the will was written.

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In a letter addressed to the college community, Sweet Briar President Mary Pope Hutson and the chair of the board of trustees announced that the revised admissions policy requires applicants to confirm they were assigned female at birth and have consistently lived and identified as women. President Hutson emphasized that maintaining a single-sex educational environment is both a longstanding tradition and a unique cultural asset for the college.

The policy has sparked significant backlash among students and faculty, who argue that it may deter potential applicants—both transgender and cisgender—from considering Sweet Briar. This concern comes at a time when many women’s colleges are either closing, merging, or transitioning to co-ed status. Notably, Sweet Briar itself nearly shut down in 2015 before a successful fundraising campaign allowed it to remain open.

Critics of the policy have also pointed out the problematic nature of adhering to an "originalist" interpretation of Williams’s will, especially given its historical context. The college's board has been criticized for this approach, which once explicitly excluded non-white students. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and a subsequent federal court ruling, that Sweet Briar began admitting Black students. John Gregory Brown, chair of the faculty senate and an English professor, denounced the policy as "absurd."

The debate surrounding Sweet Briar's new admissions policy underscores broader discussions about the balance between tradition and inclusivity in higher education.

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