Graphic by Trinity Kendrick ’21
BY DECLAN LANGTON ’22
The title of a “women’s college” is heavily debated. On its website, Mount Holyoke uses the term “women’s college.” Most prominently, it is found on the College’s “About” page, where the College describes itself as “a women’s College that is gender diverse,” going on to say, “we welcome application from female, transgender and nonbinary students.” In other places on the website, the label is less consistent, necessitating an entire section called “Why a Women’s College?” which discusses the benefits of attending a “women’s college.”
Admissions handles the school’s label similarly. Vice President for Enrollment Management Robin Randall said that the most important thing for admissions is to be “consistent and easily understood.” For this to happen, she describes Mount Holyoke in the terms and definition found on the “About” page.
Associate Dean of Students for Community and Inclusion Latrina L. Denson discussed this lack of finalized label.
“The school hasn’t really given a specific name,” Denson said. “[It] hasn’t embraced the term “gender diversity” … I think we’re still determining what that looks like … They are probably waiting on the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer to lead that official charge around what language we should use.”
Denson also expressed the desire for everyone on campus to know what the term chosen means “before saying this is who we are.”
The website’s choice of the term “women’s college,” despite its attempted qualifiers, seems to lead prospective students to believe that women are the only attendees of the school.
“I thought it was a women’s college,” David Nejezchleba ’22 said, thinking back to when they were applying. “It’s kind of cowardly that they don’t advertise [the gender diversity].”
Regis Reed ’22 mentioned only knowing that Mount Holyoke accepted students like himself because he had friends attending the school.
Randall spoke to this topic, saying the new admissions policy “used to be much harder to find, and likely missed by anyone not purposely searching for it.” He added that this statement has now been moved to a more accessible location and placed on Mount Holyoke’s Common Application.
Members of the Lavender Committee, an identity -based student committee under the Student Government Association (SGA), also recognized problems with the College’s title. Public Relations Officer Naomi Covuoto ’22 and Chairman Ann Hewitt ’20 talked about the struggles of always having to explain the true admissions policies because of the deceptiveness of the current label.
“I try not to go super into it with people I don’t know because I can’t always go through the emotional labor,” Hewitt said.
They both agreed that “calling the college what it is” would alleviate this issue, especially for transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
Hewitt said, “I have a lot of love for this college, and there are a lot of issues that need to be dealt with.”
No students came forward to say that they call Mount Holyoke a “women’s college,” but respondents do say that they hear the term “women’s college” being used and that they have a problem with it, especially when used on campus between students.
“It doesn’t represent Mount Holyoke if you say we are a women’s college because … we are not. It leaves a lot of voices, specifically trans voices, unheard,” Reed said. “I am not a girl, but I go here.”
The 2018-2019 Student Conference Committee (SCC) survey proves Reed’s point. Out of the 783 students who answered the question, “What is your gender identity (check all that apply),” 213 responses checked a gender other than “woman” or “cis woman.”
“I call [Mount Holyoke] a ‘historically women’s college’ because it’s a recognizable concept to the population at large but it does not alienate trans or gender non-conforming students,” Anna Sophie Tinneny ’23 said.
Many others agreed with this label, including alumna Lucy Bolognese ’18.
“I try only to use ‘historically women’s college’ when describing [Mount Holyoke]. I feel that if I were to simply say ‘women’s college’ I would be erasing or diminishing the existence of trans students, nonbinary students and anyone else who does not solely identify as a cis women,” Bolognese said.
Denson took a different perspective.
“I think saying ‘gender diverse’ does give honor to the diversity that exists on campus as well as honoring the legacy in which the schools were created, which was a time where most women could not attend Ivy League schools,” she said.
Liz Child ’21 had a similar take on labeling the school.
“I call Mount Holyoke a ‘gender-diverse women’s college’ because it captures the fact that the students here are not just women and clearly asserts the existence of genders outside the binary. The ‘women’s college’ aspect of it, to me, is indicative of the fact that our admissions policy still has a gendered focus,” they said. “Calling ourselves a gender-diverse women’s college means there is no hiding or erasure of trans [and] non-binary students on our campus.”
Mount Holyoke currently has a strategic plan to improve the school called “Plan for Mount Holyoke 2021,” in place.
The plan is designed to outline the “priorities for the College that both renew and reimagine our commitments to liberal learning,” according to its online summary.
Denson mentioned that gender is “a strong part” of this plan, which mentions gender in section three, “An Inclusive and Collaborative Community.”
It calls to, “provide faculty and staff development opportunities and encourage campus conversations on issues of difference — including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and gender.” This use of gender is also notably non-specified — it could mean exclusively women.
Denson said that the plan “talks about inclusion as a whole. When you talk about diversity and inclusion, gender can’t not be a part of it, because it’s who we are. It’s part of that full commitment.”
She also said that a new label for the school is a part of the plan, despite not being directly present because it would be an administrative action step.
These steps are what caused the increased visibility of gender diversity in recruitment efforts, according to Randall.
“We have been working with campus partners to develop more content for prospective students to learn about our gender diverse community, including information about programs and resources for transgender and non-binary students,” Randall said.
The lack of communication surrounding this issue of naming the school has become difficult for some students who want to see action taken.
The label is “not something they are going to be able to change immediately,” Covuoto said. “I get that, but make an effort. Talk to people about it. When students push back against that idea, listen to them, talk to them, understand where they are coming from. If you don’t understand it, talk to us.”