Barnard announces official transgender admission policy

Barnard College, a private women’s college in New York City, announced on Thursday morning that it has formally established a transgender admission policy.

“Since its founding in 1889, Barnard’s mission has been to provide generations of promising, high-achieving young women with an outstanding liberal arts education in a community where women lead,” the college wrote in a statement.

“In furtherance of our mission, tradition and values as a women’s college, and in recognition of our changing world and evolving understanding of gender identity, Barnard will consider for admission those applicants who consistently live and identify as women, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth.”

“There was no question that Barnard must reaffirm its mission as a college for women. And there was little debate that trans women should be eligible for admission to Barnard.”

Metro New York reported that the college was likely to usher in an official policy to follow in line with other women’s colleges.

“This past academic year, our Board, senior leadership, and entire community have been engaged in a series of town halls and conversations to consider this important issue and to explore what a policy change would mean for the College,” Barnard spokesperson Stephanie Browne told Metro in an email sent in May. “We are committed to developing a policy that reflects Barnard’s mission, history and core values, as well as the diversity of beliefs in our community.”

We reported that some students on campus “felt it was the alumnae mostly resisting the inclusion of trans women,” and that “Barnard’s Alumnae Association did not respond to a request for comment.”

Until thursday Barnard was the only college of the traditional Seven Sisters that did not have an official admission transgender admission policy.