Wellesley Athletics took down their pages outlining their transgender policy from their website after President Donald Trump signed an executive order officially banning all transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports on Wednesday.  

Executive Order 14168, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” restricts participation in women’s sports to individuals assigned female at birth. The order applies to all institutions that receive federal funding, which includes all public schools and nearly every college and university in the US. 

It was signed on National Girls and Women’s in Sports Day, in alignment with Trump’s campaign promise of ending “the war on women’s sports.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) quickly aligned itself with the executive order and announced that it would formally change its policy on transgender students. The policy, which formerly allowed trans athletes to participate in women’s categories after a certain period and levels of hormone treatment, now requires all athletes competing in women’s categories to be assigned female at birth (AFAB). The NCAA has not changed its policy for transgender athletes participating in men’s sports, and it also still allows for non-AFAB athletes to participate on women’s formal practice teams (it is common for elite women’s basketball teams to compete against practice teams of male athletes). This means that while trans women are barred from inter-collegiate competition, they are still allowed a spot on an active roster. 

Wellesley Athletics follows the same steps as other institutions such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, which also pulled their pages outlining their transgender policy from their websites. Today,  Bethany Ellis announced in an email to Wellesley Athletics that the college had formally updated their transgender policy to be aligned with the NCAA competition and practice policies. 

While not unexpected, this action was disappointing to many student-athletes and others involved in Wellesley Athletics. 

Marty Martinage ’24, a former Wellesley Crew Captain and organizer for Trans Students Belong at Wellesley commented: 

“I spent a lot of my junior year sitting down and talking with people in admin about the lack of gender-inclusive language at Wellesley, and I’m genuinely sympathetic to the position they’re in. As I understand it, the ‘women’s college’ language has been part of how we avoid being required (through Title IX or otherwise) to go coed. Wellesley Athletics seems to be in their own version of this bind — they’re complying with blatantly discriminatory executive orders in the hopes that, by doing so, Wellesley students writ large will be able to continue practicing and competing in a community that genuinely prioritizes women’s sports.”

Martinage’s comment reflects a common dilemma amongst student activists. The rights of trans women and girls in sport are a very real but also very symbolic problem: NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate committee last December that fewer than 10 trans student athletes were competing in women’s categories across the entirety of the NCAA.

In a statement to The News, the College said that Wellesley’s website changes reflect NCAA policy and that these policy changes do not apply to any current Wellesley athletes. 

On Feb. 7,  Athletic Director Bethany Ellis commented in an email to all student athletes and PERA staff that while Wellesley will honor the NCAA change in policy, the Athletics “department remains committed to supporting and affirming all athletes, including our transgender student-athletes.”

This executive order is one of many actions taken by the Trump Administration against transgender people. However, it has not gone unchallenged. Maine Governor Janet Mills has openly refused to comply with the Trump Administration’s ban, saying, “see you in court” to Trump during a confrontation at a meeting with all state governors. 

Additionally, two high school girls from New Hampshire have also challenged Trump’s Executive Order. Supported by a legal team from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), these young trans students, who were already in the process of suing the state of New Hampshire over a law which banned them from participating on girl’s sports teams at their high school, formally amended their complaint to also include Trump’s Executive Order. 

Despite ongoing cultural debates about trans women athletes, there has been no public organizing regarding this issue on Wellesley’s campus. Wellesley Athletics has also taken no further action regarding a change in the NCAA transgender policy.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Jessica Chen, Sazma Sarwar, and Valida Pau.

Updated on March 3, 2025 to include community perspectives.