Investigated. It's with that word, heavy with irony, that the Trump administration marks Smith College — one of the most respected women's colleges in the US, founded in 1871 — for having admitted trans women since 2015.
The Department of Education launched a Title IX investigation into the institution, arguing that the legal exception for single-sex colleges applies only to biological sex — not gender identity. What's at stake is not just one college. The majority of American women's colleges admit trans women, meaning this investigation could define the future of all of them.
The most revealing detail? The complaint didn't originate with anyone at Smith College — it came from Defending Education, a conservative group with no connection to the institution's community. In other words: the people who actually live and study there didn't ask for this.
The question that lingers: how far can the federal government go in dictating who a private institution can or cannot open its doors to? And what happens when the law is used as a weapon against the very people it was meant to protect?
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