Smith College students are reacting to a recently-opened Title IX investigation into the school, over the admittance of students who are transgender women.
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights argues that Smith violated Title IX gender protections by admitting transgender women and allowing them access to spaces like dorms and locker rooms.
“As a trans woman in the United States, I don't feel safe at all," said a Smith student who asked not to be identified because she says she feels targeted under this administration. She said she’s still processing the news that her college is under investigation for admitting trans students like her.
“It's just one thing added to the mix of like the stressful climate, political climate that we're living in and we're all just trying to come here to get our degrees to study," she said, adding that she feels like the Trump administration is targeting what is already a small minority of trans students on campus.
“They're just causing that sort of emotional pressure on like the hearts and the minds of the students that are trans that go here. We're just a scapegoat in this administration's aims to just outlaw anyone that's different.”
Charlotte Lawrence is a senior at Smith and not a transgender woman. She doesn't agree with the federal government's claims that transgender women are taking something away from the school's all-girl campus.
"I think that the government seems to be taking certain minority groups, and making them seem predatory, and arguing for instance that trans women are predatory, and dangerous. And that is not true. Emphatically, that is not true," Lawrence said.
Lawrence said she believes this is part of a wider federal push targeting transgender people and that officials who have fear or vitriol towards that community have likely never met a trans person themselves.
Smith College has received notice that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened a Title IX investigation into the College.
"The college is fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws. The College does not comment on pending government investigations," said Carolyn McDaniel, a spokesperson for the school, in a written statement.
