GLAAD Senior Media Strategist Tiq Milan spoke with BuzzFeed about the admissions policies and practices at Smith College regarding transgender women applicants. Members of the student group Smith Q&A are organizing a demonstration for this Thursday, April 24, to demand that the school adopt a policy allowing transgender prospective students to submit supplemental documents with their applications:
“With the multiple forms and documentation required to apply for college, transgender students may not yet have access to documentation that confirms their gender identity and are therefore unfairly rejected by Smith College,” said Tiq Milan, senior media strategist at GLAAD, in a statement to BuzzFeed. “Smith administrators should end the dangerous message they are sending trans youth and prospective students, and instead have a policy in place that prioritizes applicants’ self-determination of gender identity.”
In its policy, Smith contends that it treats applications from transgender students no differently than applications from cisgender students — on a “case-by-case basis.” The policy states, “Like most women’s colleges, Smith expects that, to be eligible for review, a student’s application and supporting documentation (transcripts, recommendations, etc.) will reflect her status as a woman.”