NORTHAMPTON — The Trump administration has opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College — one of the most prestigious women's colleges in the country — for admitting transgender students and granting them access to female dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced the probe on Sunday, arguing that Smith may have forfeited its legal status as a single-sex institution by admitting students who are biologically male.
"An all-women's college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males," said Kimberly Richey, the department's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. "Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness, and compliance under federal law."
The investigation centers on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which includes an exception permitting colleges to maintain all-male or all-female student bodies — but only on the basis of biological sex, the administration argues, not gender identity.
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Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, charges approximately $91,000 per year for tuition, fees, room, and board. It is one of the "Seven Sisters" — a group of historically women's colleges that includes Wellesley, Barnard, and Mount Holyoke. Smith updated its admissions policy to accept transgender women applicants — individuals who were born male but identify as female — making it one of several elite women's colleges to do so in recent years.
The federal investigation will examine whether that policy violates the Title IX single-sex exception and whether Smith's acceptance of transgender students compromises the privacy and safety protections that the all-women's designation was designed to provide.
A fight the administration wants
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The Smith investigation is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to roll back gender identity accommodations in education. The Department of Education has rescinded Biden-era Title IX guidance that extended sex discrimination protections to cover gender identity, and has targeted schools and universities that maintain transgender-inclusive policies.
For Smith's students, the stakes are immediate. A finding against the college could jeopardize federal funding — including financial aid — and force the institution to choose between its admissions policy and its access to federal dollars.
For the administration, Smith is the ideal test case: an elite, progressive institution in deep-blue Massachusetts whose admissions policy puts the question of what "women's college" means in the starkest possible terms.
A ruling from the Supreme Court on a related case involving Temporary Protected Status is expected by the end of June, and the broader legal battle over gender identity in education is likely heading to the high court as well. In the meantime, the Department of Education has made clear it intends to enforce Title IX based on biological sex — and Smith College is now squarely in its sights.
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