Graphic Courtesy of Elle Rood ‘27
By Sydney Wiser ʼ27
Staff Writer
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Mount Holyoke College’s historic gender-inclusive admissions policy. At convocation on Sept. 2, 2014, former President Lynn Pasquerella welcomed in the school year with the official announcement of the policy, making the College the second historically women’s institution to formally open its doors to female, transgender and nonbinary applicants.
"Mount Holyoke is proud to be a gender diverse women’s college. … Our inclusive admission policy is the twenty-first century expression of our founding mission to provide an intellectually adventurous education for individuals who have been marginalized on the basis of their gender, gender expression or gender identity,” the Mount Holyoke admissions office said in a statement shared with the Mount Holyoke News on Feb. 13. “Since Mount Holyoke’s founding in 1837, the College has been committed to educating those individuals who have, on the basis of gender, faced obstacles and opposition to their education.”
While trans and gender-nonconforming students were never explicitly barred from applying to Mount Holyoke, the admissions requirements made it difficult for these students prior to the adoption of the gender-inclusive policy.
“Applicants [to the College] need to have female gender markers on all of their documentation. This includes all materials such as FAFSA, high school transcripts, letters of recommendation and the common application,” student-led admissions blog OpenGates explained.
“This policy requires trans women who apply to Mount Holyoke to come from supportive families and schools, as well as have the time, money and know-how to navigate bureaucratic processes in order to legally transition.”
The discussion around gender inclusivity at historically women’s institutions reached a new height after Smith College denied a trans female applicant admission in 2013, according to CNN. The decision spurred conversations between historically women's institutions and student activists across campuses.
At Mount Holyoke, student activism was an integral part of the push for a gender-inclusive admissions policy. The height of this activism occurred in the spring of 2014 with the formation of the student organization and blog OpenGates, which has reached its 10th anniversary this semester.
According to their website, OpenGates advocated for “the inclusion of trans women in the Mount Holyoke College community.” The research compiled by Mount Holyoke’s Queer Action Collective found that OpenGates participated in numerous advocacy-related projects, worked with the Five College Consortium as well as colleges across the country and advocated for the creation of a queer Living Learning Community.
OpenGates also spread awareness on their Tumblr, answering questions from alums and students and compiling links to information about trans rights. One notable contribution was their photo campaign for Pangy Day, where they posted students holding signs with slogans like “Trans Women Belong @ Mount Holyoke!”
Many OpenGates members continued advocating for on-campus trans-inclusivity even after the policy was formally adopted. Jennie Ochterski ’15, one of the organization’s leaders, told PBS NewsHour that she created a weekly newspaper column that answered student questions about transgender topics.
Ten years later, students have seen the effects of the admissions policy on the Mount Holyoke community. The College has since introduced more gender-inclusive policies, like the chosen name policy, which “provides specific support for transgender and nonbinary individuals [and] any individuals who … regularly use a name that is different from their legal name,” according to the Mount Holyoke website. For students like QAC Chair Naoise Grybko ʼ26, Mount Holyoke’s gender-inclusive policies were one of the reasons why they were drawn to the school.
In an interview with the Mount Holyoke News, Grybko noted the significance of the Lyons Legacy, an LLC for transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming students. “[The Lyons Legacy] was really important for me to both feel accepted at Mount Holyoke and then feel accepted just in my identity as a nonbinary trans person.”
Students have also created spaces for trans and gender-nonconforming students to advocate for themselves and form community. They have established organizations like Gender+ and QAC and participate in groups like the faculty, staff and student coalition Affirming Practices for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Working Group and FAMILIA, “a student organization that offers community and support to queer-identified people of color on campus,” the Mount Holyoke website explained.
The Jeannette Marks Cultural Center, which is open to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, is another space where students can foster community and access resources. Trans students are also stepping into important leadership roles, like Class of 2027 President Elle Rood ʼ27, the first openly trans woman to be elected to the position.
As QAC Treasurer, Rood also emphasized the importance of helping trans and gender-nonconforming students access gender-affirming care in creating an inclusive campus. “Trans people are still college students. They still have homework and extracurriculars and a social life,” said Rood.
Rood explained that QAC tries to reduce additional stressors that trans students experience, like trying to get gender-affirming care. Later this month, QAC will host a free pop-up shop for gender-affirming care items. Mount Holyoke Health Services also provides gender-affirming services like assistance with hormone injections and gender-affirming prescriptions.
Despite the progress made since the passage of the gender-inclusive policy, both Rood and Grybko acknowledge that there is still work to be done. “There are instances in which you can tell that trans women and trans people have only been officially welcome here for 10 years,” Rood said.
Within the student body, Rood and Grybko emphasized the importance of bringing trans people of color into the center of activism and the need for greater representation of trans women on campus. “Something that we're working on as a club is to change the dialogue … about [transmasculine] people and [transfeminine] people on campus,” Grybko added.
Administratively, Grybko sees a need for more faculty education on making classrooms more inclusive for trans students. They also stressed the importance of the “little things that are really impactful for trans people.” Rood said that they do their best to use their voice to tell the administration when they notice systems or processes that they believe need to be changed.
“When it comes to trans acceptance at Mount Holyoke … we need to move from trans people being accepted here, to trans people being welcomed here,” Rood said.