The group said it plans to deliver the signatures to the Smith admissions office Thursday at 4 p.m.
Smith College. NORTHAMPTON – Smith Q&A, an on-campus group that focuses on raising awareness about transgender issues at Smith College, has announced plans to deliver more than 4,000 signatures from their Change.org petition to Smith College’s Office of Admissions on Thursday.
The online petition drive followed the college’s refusal to consider the application of Calliope Wong, a male-to-female transgender high school student from Connecticut.
A letter dated March 5 to Wong from Smith Dean of Admission Debra Shaver and posted on the student’s Tumblr blog states that the reason for the rejection is that she is listed as male on her Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The form is a standard
“As you may remember from our previous correspondence, Smith is a women’s college, which means that undergraduate applicants to Smith must be female at the time of admission,“ Shaver stated in the letter.
In March, the college’s rejection of Wong drew national attention after generating reports on The Huffington Post and in USA Today.
At the time, Laurie Felason, Smith’s vice president for public affairs, e-mailed The Republican the section of the college’s policies on gender identity and expression.
That document states that the college has students who identify as transgender and that it does not decide who is a woman, but “relies upon the information provided by each student applicant.“
It also states that any student who completes the college’s graduation requirements regardless of gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation is awarded a Smith degree.
The Smith Q&A petition urges Smith College to adopt admissions policies that are welcoming and supportive to all transgender women applicants.
The group said it plans to deliver the signatures to the Smith admissions office Thursday at 4 p.m.