Federal Government Opens Title IX Investigation Into Smith College for Admitting Transgender Women

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College on May 4, 2026, over the 155-year-old women's liberal arts college's policy of admitting transgender women — setting up a legal confrontation with potentially far-reaching consequences for women's colleges across the United States.

The investigation was triggered by a civil rights complaint filed by Defending Education, a conservative nonprofit, and marks the first time the Trump administration has applied its interpretation of Title IX's single-sex exception directly to a women's college's admissions policy — as opposed to the athletic participation questions that have dominated earlier Title IX enforcement actions.

Smith, founded in 1871 in Northampton, Massachusetts, is one of the original Seven Sisters colleges and one of the largest women's liberal arts colleges in the country. It has admitted transgender women since 2015.

What the Department of Education Says

The administration's legal theory, stated directly in the press release, rests on a specific reading of Title IX's single-sex exception.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 generally prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. A separate provision — Section 1681(a)(5) — exempts institutions that have "traditionally and continually" maintained a policy of admitting students of only one sex from the general nondiscrimination requirement. This is the legal foundation that allows women's colleges like Smith to exist and receive federal funding.

The administration's argument is that this exception applies on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity. "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," the Department's statement reads. "An all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single sex under Title IX."

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey stated: "An all-women's college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males. Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law."

What Smith College Says

Smith's stated admissions policy does not use the administration's terminology. The college says it "is a women's college and considers for admission any applicants who self-identify as women; cis, trans, and nonbinary women are eligible to apply to Smith."

Smith College says it "is actively working to expand support for transgender students" and provides resources including "trans-affirming" healthcare and peer support. The college also says that there are single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms and an all-gender locker room with private changing and showering areas on campus.

Smith did not respond to Inside Higher Ed's request for comment prior to publication.

The History Behind Smith's 2015 Policy Change

Smith's admissions policy drew attention and sparked on-campus activism in 2013, when a trans high school senior was denied acceptance because her legal documents still listed her sex as male at the time of application. The resulting campus activism — joined by transgender advocates at several other women's colleges — prompted Smith and many of its peer institutions to formally update their admissions policies. Smith announced in May 2015 that it would admit students who self-identify as women, regardless of the sex listed on their application documents.

Like most other elite women's colleges in the U.S., Smith admits trans women. The majority of women's colleges, though not all, admit trans women. Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Mills — all historically women's institutions — have adopted similar policies, though with variations in specific language and criteria.

What LGBTQ Legal Advocates Say

Shannon Minter, an attorney with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, called the investigation an "ominous" example of government overreach into private institutions. "If they (women's colleges) have chosen — as many of them have — to admit transgender students, that's something they should be able to do freely without being worried about persecution by the federal government," he said.

Minter said the use of Title IX in this context reflects the "misuse and weaponization of anti-discrimination laws to do the very opposite of the thing those laws were enacted for." Title IX, he said, was meant to "protect people against all forms of sex-based discrimination, including discrimination against transgender people."

Nicholas Hite, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focused on LGBTQ rights, said it was notable the complaint didn't originate with anyone at Smith College. "The communities that these policies and that these institutions serve, they're really happy they chose to go to these places," Hite said.

The Broader Legal and Policy Context

The investigation arrives at a legally complex moment. The text of Title IX itself is brief and doesn't attempt to define gender or sex. Under the Obama and Biden administrations, Title IX was taken to include protections for trans students. During the Biden administration, new Title IX regulations were issued to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, those were struck down by a federal judge in January 2025 who decided the rules had legal shortcomings.

The Trump administration has asserted consistently that Title IX's protections apply on the basis of biological sex, and has pursued that interpretation across multiple fronts — in athletics, in bathroom and locker room access, and now in a women's college's core admissions policy. Each of these applications has prompted legal challenges from civil rights organizations.

Most of the higher education investigations under the Trump administration have focused on decisions to allow trans women to compete on women's sports teams, which the Education Department eventually said violates Title IX. The Smith investigation represents a significant expansion: it is the first time the administration has directly challenged a women's college's admissions policy itself — not just athletic participation or facilities access.

The complaint from Defending Education alleged that Smith was violating Title IX because "the accommodations for so-called gender identity encroach upon sex-specific programs and spaces."

Trans people make up a tiny fraction of the country's population. Just 1% of the United States population ages 13 and older identify as trans, according to the Williams Institute, a public policy research center at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law focused on sexual orientation and gender identity. It's unclear how many trans students are at Smith today.

What This Means for Women's Colleges Broadly

The investigation's implications extend well beyond Smith. If the administration's legal theory is sustained — either through a voluntary compliance agreement or in federal court — it would apply equally to Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Mills, and every other women's college that has adopted similar admissions policies. All of them receive federal financial assistance and are therefore subject to Title IX's requirements.

The core legal question — whether Title IX's single-sex exception permits institutions to define their student body in terms of gender identity rather than biological sex — has not been definitively resolved by any court. Both the administration's interpretation and the interpretation advanced by LGBTQ legal advocates have legal arguments in their favor, and the outcome of litigation in this area will almost certainly shape women's college admissions policy for years to come.

For current and prospective students at Smith and peer institutions: an OCR investigation is an inquiry, not a finding of violation. Smith is not required to change its admissions policy while the investigation proceeds, and any finding of violation would likely be followed by a compliance negotiation before any federal funding consequences were imposed. Legal challenges to the administration's interpretation of Title IX in this context are expected.

For transgender students at women's colleges: the investigation creates legal uncertainty, but Smith has not announced any change to its admissions or support policies. Students with questions about their current status should contact their institution's student affairs or dean of students office directly.