May 5, 2026 / 5:18 AM EDT / CBS/AP
The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday it has opened an investigation into Smith College, the historic Massachusetts women’s college, over its policy of admitting transgender women. The department’s Office for Civil Rights said it will examine whether the college violated Title IX, the 1972 federal law that bars sex discrimination in education. In a news release the department asserted Smith has been “admitting biological men.”
The inquiry continues a broader push by the Trump administration to restrict certain transgender rights. Federal officials have argued that Title IX bars transgender women from competing in women’s sports and have sued states and opened investigations into schools they say are not in compliance.
Smith, a private liberal arts college founded in 1871, has accepted transgender women applicants since 2015, a policy shared by several other selective women’s colleges. The school’s admission rules drew attention after a 2013 case in which a transgender high school senior was denied admission because her gender identity differed from the sex listed on financial aid forms. Smith’s admissions web page currently states that “any applicants who self-identify as women; cis, trans, and nonbinary women” are eligible to apply. Supporters of such policies say women’s colleges were created to serve people marginalized because of their gender and should be inclusive.
The number of women’s colleges in the United States has fallen from more than 200 to about 30 as of fall 2023, the Women’s College Coalition says. A Smith spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The department’s release noted that Title IX contains an exception allowing single-sex institutions, but said that exception applies “on the basis of biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity.” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey was quoted saying, “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. The Trump Administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense.”
The OCR action followed a complaint filed in June 2025 by the conservative legal group Defending Education. In its announcement, the group said it and its members oppose discrimination based on sex in K-12 schools and higher education. During the Biden administration, the Education Department issued Title IX regulations intended to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; those rules were overturned by a federal judge in January 2025, who found legal deficiencies in the regulation.
The investigation will determine whether Smith’s admissions policies are consistent with federal civil-rights law.