Smith College Accepts Men Who Identify as Women, But Not Women Who Identify as Men
A growing controversy over whether all-women’s colleges should admit biological men who identify as women has thrust the conservative watchdog group Defending Education into the national spotlight after The New York Times highlighted the organization’s efforts to challenge those policies.
The group’s investigations and civil rights complaints have prompted federal scrutiny of several historic women’s colleges, including Smith College and Wellesley College.
Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education, told Todd Starnes, the host of the Todd Starnes Radio Show, that the organization has filed nearly a dozen federal civil rights complaints challenging what it believes are violations of Title IX. Watch the interview below:
“I suppose that means that we’re over the target,” Perry said when Starnes noted the organization had drawn the attention of The New York Times. “If we’ve initiated… almost 12 civil rights complaints, that’s a result of some good research and some good writing and some law. And civil rights law is not a suggestion, it is a mandate.”
Perry argued that colleges receiving federal taxpayer dollars must comply with federal civil rights statutes.
“If all of these schools accept so much as a dollar of federal funding, they are beholden to follow civil rights laws,” she said. “A lot of institutions of higher education seem to think that they can interpret civil rights law however they want, but the administration has other views on that.”
One of Defending Education’s complaints focuses on Smith College after the school selected former Biden administration official Dr. Rachel Levine as its commencement speaker and awarded Levine an honorary degree.
“Not only does Smith College admit natal men who identify as women,” Perry said, “but it does not admit natal women who identify as men. So make it make sense, Todd.”
She added that allowing biological men into women’s dormitories and other campus facilities undermines the institution’s identity.
“To my mind indicates that the moniker of women’s college is actually misapplied,” Perry said. “Be a co-ed college. But be honest about what you are.”
Perry said Wellesley College has maintained a similar admissions policy since 2015.
“Just like Smith College, Wellesley College also since 2015 has been admitting biological males who identify as females,” she said. “They have been admitted simply on their own self-professed gender identity.”
Responding to critics who argue private colleges should be free to establish their own admissions standards, Perry said federal funding changes the legal equation.
“They don’t have to take federal research grants, they don’t have to take student loans,” she said. “But once they do, federal civil rights law attaches. And again, that is not a suggestion, but a mandate.”
Perry said Defending Education’s broader mission extends beyond a single issue.
“Our mission is to eliminate political indoctrination and return to excellence in American education,” she said. “Public education is a necessity for more than 80% of American school kids. We want it to work for every school kid… Our organization seeks to eliminate all of that and return to rigorous academic excellence.”
The Trump administration has already opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College following complaints from Defending Education, signaling that the legal battle over single-sex education and transgender admissions is likely far from over.
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