May 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into Smith College, a women's college in Massachusetts, because it admits transgender women.
The Education Department issued a press release saying its Office of Civil Rights is investigating to determine if the college violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 "by allowing biological males into women's intimate spaces, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic teams."
Title IX is a federal civil rights law that bans sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funds. It has an exception for private undergraduate college admissions. But the Department of Education alleged that the exception is only for biological sex, not gender identity.
"An all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single-sex under Title IX," the statement said.
Smith is an independent, nondenominational college that opened in 1875 in Northampton, Mass. It is one of the largest women's colleges in the United States, with students from 48 states and 67 countries, its website said. It has more than 2,500 undergraduate students, and it admits men in its graduate school.
