The Department of Education is investigating Smith College, one of the most prominent of the “Seven Sisters” all-female colleges, for violations of Title IX regarding discrimination on the basis of sex.
“Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into Smith College, one of the nation’s largest all-women’s colleges, for admitting biological men and granting them access to women-only spaces, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams,” the department said in a statement Monday. “OCR will determine whether the college violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) by allowing biological males into women’s intimate spaces.”
This is a shot across the bow of the most prominent all-female Eastern liberal colleges in America. Known as the “Seven Sisters,” Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Smith, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, and Radcliffe colleges have educated women from America’s most prestigious families. They are also the intellectual birthplaces for many leaders of the first and second waves of feminism. Data from organizations like the Higher Education Research Institute consistently show that students at these colleges are significantly more likely to identify as “liberal” or “far-left” compared to the national average for college students.
“An all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.
“Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law. The Trump Administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense,” Richey noted.
“Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,” the department explained in the press release. “Title IX contains a single-sex exception that allows colleges to enroll all-male or all-female student bodies — but the exception applies on the basis of biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity. An all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single sex under Title IX.”
A spokesperson for Smith College said in a statement it received notice from the civil rights office and the school does not comment on ongoing government investigations.
“The College is fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws,” the spokesperson said.
The investigation springs from a June 2025 complaint filed by Defending Education, a conservative advocacy group, that raised concerns about Smith College’s admissions practices and its policies concerning locker room and bathroom access and sports participation on the basis of gender identity.
“We’re gratified that they have an open investigation into it,” said Nicole Neily, president of Defending Education. “I believe very strongly in the importance of single-sex spaces, be it a boys camp or an all-women’s college. And how Smith College has been addressing the issue of gender, to me, is very troubling.”
The Education Department is going to have to root out the ideology driving this gender craziness from all seven “female-only” schools.
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Mount Holyoke was the first of the Seven Sisters to adopt a trans-inclusive policy (2014). It now explicitly welcomes female, transgender, and nonbinary students. It changed its policy in 2015 to consider any applicant who self-identifies as a woman.
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Smith College changed its policy in 2015 to consider any applicant who self-identifies as a woman.
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Barnard College also admits those who “consistently live and identify as women.”
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Wellesley College admits male students who live and identify as women, despite a 2023 student referendum that pushed to further include trans men and nonbinary applicants.
It’s hard to figure out who’s loonier: the students or the school administration.
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