Mount Holyoke issues transgender admissions policy

*Note: Pronouns xe/xem/xyrs will be used to reference Harlowe Kerckhove in the article when necessary.

Representatives of Mount Holyoke College, a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts, formally released its first admissions policy regarding transgender students.

President Lynn Pasquerella made the official announcement Sept. 2, which stated, “Our new policy formally welcomes applications from any qualified student who is female or identifies as a woman.”

Pasquerella said the school and board of trustees had been working on issues involving diversity and inclusion ever since students talked about certain challenges within the community at a panel two years ago. The policy was finalized this past summer.

Ted Lewis, associate director of Common Ground for LGBTQ campus life, said this policy shift removed the distinction between transgenders and women from an admissions perspective while still upholding Mount Holyoke’s mission of educating women.

“On the national level, it sets a precedent for gender-based education to be inclusive of people’s gender identity,” Lewis said.

Harlowe Kerckhove, a junior at University Richmond who is recognized as a non-binary person, said it had taken a lot of student advocacy to change the policy. “But it’s an openly accessible policy that has been developed, and is available to new and returning students, which is really wonderful,” xe said.

According to Lewis, Richmond added gender identity and expression to its non-discrimination policy in 2012. The policy was first introduced during the 2012-2013 academic year.

“It means we accept any student, faculty, staff member who identifies as transgender or falls under the transgender umbrella,” Lewis said. “In general, Richmond is dedicated to figuring out how to preserve its unique coordinate system but also make space for transgender students.”

Richmond’s coordinate system does not have a specific policy about whether certain transgender students should be in Richmond or Westhampton College.

“The reality of [the coordinate system] is if a student comes in and wants to transition from male to female, it’s very easy to switch colleges if he or she wants to do that,” Dean Juliette Landphair said.

Young Brinson, a senior at Richmond who identifies as a two-spirit person, is currently affiliated with Richmond College. However, she is planning to make the switch to Westhampton College before she graduates this year.

Brinson receives all emails that are related to Westhampton College events and activities. She is planning to attend Proclamation Day Saturday, Sept. 13.

Kerckhove said xe found the coordinate system at Richmond to be somewhat stressful.

“It’s definitely an outdated system and is something that could be improved upon,” Kerchhove said. “Here on campus there is a lot of emphasis on what a Richmond man is and what a Westhampton woman is. It seems like a lot of students adhere to that kind of system. We can definitely do more as a community to stretch beyond those boundaries.”

Kerckhove will graduate without being affiliated with either Richmond or Westhampton College.

“The challenge we have right now is that there are students who don’t want to identify either way. So that’s something we grapple with,” Landphair said. “We have not really had these challenges yet, but it is a reality.”

Contact Collegian Reporter Alyssa Gunville at alyssa.gunville@richmond.edu