Last spring, The Wellesley News Editorial Board called on the Board of Trustees and College administration to allow the transgender flag murals between the Science Center and Founders to be left up. This is not an isolated occurrence: in spring 2021, we reminded the Board of Trustees and College administration that we are not all “Wellesley women.” In response to the March 6 email from College President Paula Johnson, titled “Affirming our mission and embracing our community,” The Wellesley News Editorial Board is once again stating that transgender and nonbinary students have always belonged and will continue to belong at Wellesley, a historically women’s college.
We disapprove of and entirely disagree with President Johnson’s email. As journalists, we understand the power of rhetoric to do good or harm. The need for newspapers to take stances on their editorial standards is more important than ever, as demonstrated by the harm caused by The New York Times’ anti-trans pivot. In the past year, the Times has published “more than 15,000 words’ worth of front-page stories asking whether care and support for young trans people might be going too far or too fast.” This alarming “newspaper crusade” inspired over 4,000 current and former Times’ contributors to draft and sign a letter condemning the paper’s anti-trans editorial bias. This bias has real-world consequences, as demonstrated by the alarming spike in anti-trans legislation in the United States; 39/50 states have proposed and/or passed legislation affecting trans people’s ability to access healthcare, public facilities and safe spaces to be themselves in 2023. It is telling that President Johnson did not mention these legislative attacks against the trans community in her email.
In our next cycle, we intend to publish a longer and more thoroughly researched editorial that includes a response to the upcoming student vote on the gender inclusivity ballot question. For now, we would like to emphasize that President Johnson’s response is part of a broader trend of Wellesley’s administration and the Board of Trustees intervening in student discourse, which sets a problematic precedent. Much like when President Johnson condemned our editorial supporting the liberation of Palestine and student-led pro-Palestine activism, College administration and the Board of Trustees have once again monopolized conversations about Wellesley’s community and future, conversations that should be led by students, who make up the majority of the College community. We also want to remind the Wellesley community that President Johnson is the spokesperson for the Board of Trustees, which must be held equally responsible for the College’s transphobic rhetoric.
We want to end with our unequivocal support for transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people — at Wellesley and everywhere — who enrich all communities they are part of. We strive to reflect this principle in our coverage and refuse the use of our platform to spew transphobic rhetoric especially because of its very real consequences.
VOTE COUNT: 6/6 Editorial Board members voted in favor
The Wellesley News Editorial Board:
Andreea Sabau
Micol J. Zhai
Valida Pau
Maimoonah Shafqat
Iris Martinez
India Lacey
Supporting trans men doesn’t imply that they need to be included in every community, especially intentional communities of which men arent part *by design*
tbh the actual transphobia here is suggesting that it’s ok for trans men (and not cis men) to attend Wellesley bc it suggests they aren’t ‘real men’
Hi! I taught at Regis College when it was all women back in the 2000s and later when it was coed. The school was different in a mixture of positive and negative ways after it started admitting men. I thought Wellesley made the right decision in 2015 when it affirmed being an all-women’s college for people who identify as women. I don’t see the logic in admitting everyone but people who identify as men after being born male. People living as women can benefit from the empowerment of an institution specifically designed to propel them forward. Wellesley has an important mission that is different from Yale or Bowdoin or Framingham State. Students are an important constituency but not the only one. Why would prospective students who want to be in class and campus activities with women at a women’s college choose to apply and attend in the future if the college experience is coed? It may be that there’s not sufficient demand for an all women’s college, but in that case the school should decide to admit everyone including men born male.
Thank you to the Wellesley News for standing up for trans students!
My sister’s middle child recently applied to Wellesley. They were identified female at birth but have been using they/them pronouns for about a year now. Unfortunately, one of the teachers who wrote their recommendation used he/him (which they had been using previously). When they asked the teacher to correct the pronouns, the teacher refused to do so, but it was too late to pull the recommendation. I can’t help but think that teacher’s choice had a little something to do with their application to several women’s colleges, including their 1st choice Wellesley, being rejected despite being a stellar candidate on every level.
This child was taught at home and at school to believe that exploration of gender identity is healthy, normal, and acceptable. Now they are being punished for doing EXACTLY what their parents and teachers told them was right. The prejudice against kids who are investigating this amorphous and ever-changing thing we call gender is unacceptable and appalling.
Wellesley should be a place of inclusion and acceptance of gender nonconformity, after all the college was arguably founded on that very principle. I can’t believe I have to say this to the President of a women’s college in 2023 – but binary gender is a social construct. A social construct that the college and many of its students, faculty, and alumnae have been working to deconstruct since 1870. I couldn’t be more disappointed by my alma mater for suddenly not accepting people/bodies/gender expressions that the college has ALWAYS accepted – that is until they identified as trans.
And just so we’re clear – no one identifies as trans for fun. It isn’t a lark. There are real prices to be paid by those who dare to eschew gender and sex norms. Wellesley shouldn’t be making those prices any higher.
I am confident that President Johnson – and everyone who shares her rigid view of gender and Wellesley’s mission – will find themselves on the wrong side of history, eventually. But in the meantime kids are being hurt and limited by President Johnson’s anti-trans policy. So Madame President, Board of Trustees, et al – here’s to you for punishing our children for doing exactly what we’ve taught them to do! Never forget that your trans ban is hurting real people, not an identity.
Hate is hate is hate.
With love and hope for a better Wellesley -akt
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