Argumentative Essay On Women's College

Administration policies at women’s colleges have changed throughout the years to accommodate the 21st century generation. Women’s colleges started forming in the 1830’s with a purpose to advance the rights of women and allow them to have a place for themselves where they can be free of any discrimination. Since before the 1830’s all colleges were for men only because women didn’t have many rights and were seen as inferior to men, so they decided to establish a college of their own where they would feel comfortable. The controversy about transgender students’ admission into a women’s college is calling much attention because of colleges mixed feelings on allowing someone who has changed their birth gender to the opposite gender into an all-women’s …show more content…
On May 13th a letter called the Dear Colleague Letter was issued by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to announce that schools under the Title IX law must allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice. The title IX law can be defined as a “comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity (“Title …show more content…
Several of the colleges can’t come to an agreement on what policies to have in order to treat transgender students accordingly. He mentions how even though women’s colleges have introduced transgender policies, they are not all equal. He compares women’s colleges in a side by side manner to contrast their policies and show the different levels they are at; Barnard College does not “require transgender women to prove via legal documentation that they identify as female nor would they have had to undergone sex reassignment surgery” (Byrne 2) while at Hollins university they need all that and a legal name change before applying. In addition he presents a chart with data from 7 colleges and their gender policies having different categories: admission of male to female students, female to male students, non-gender binary students and students that are able to graduate if they are female at enrollment but then make the switch to male while at the campus. The schools surveyed were: Mount Holyoke College, Wellesley College, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College Hollins University, and Mills College. Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr College both had gender policies that accepted all four categories, while others such as Wellesley, Smith and