SARAH PARSHALL PERRY: On The Anniversary Of Title IX, Feminism’s Promises Ring Hollow
In the late 19th Century, at a time when elite institutions like Harvard only admitted men, the “seven sisters” liberal arts colleges were founded on the premise that women needed their own equivalent of an ivy-league…
In the late 19th Century, at a time when elite institutions like Harvard only admitted men, the “seven sisters” liberal arts colleges were founded on the premise that women needed their own equivalent of an ivy-league education. In 1927, when the consortium of individual schools was formally recognized as the “seven sisters,” the notion that an education for women should be at a level equivalent to that of men was indeed radical. Today, of the original seven, only five — Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Smith —remain single-sex.
Or so they say. Because on this anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 — the civil rights law guaranteeing sex equality in education — some women’s colleges seem to have forgotten their history, more interested in transgressive admissions policies than tradition.
Smith College is one of them.
Ten years ago, Smith College was the subject of an iron-fisted transgender public relations campaign to admit trans “women” to its all-female ranks. After debate and discord, community listening sessions and planning meetings, study committees and legal wrangling, Smith’s resolve to keep its all-women’s legacy intact, broke. In May of 2015, the College announced a new admissions policy of including transgender “women” (biological men) based on evolving “concepts of female identity” and the “diversity of women’s lived experiences.” As expected, gender-neutral bathrooms, locker rooms, and housing accommodations followed.
Yet, in a perverse twist, while the college chose to admit men who identified as female, it