All-women Catholic college retracts trans admissions policy following backlash

Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, recently reversed its decision that would have allowed males who identify as women to attend the women’s liberal arts college. 

The Catholic institution announced this change in an email sent on Dec. 21, almost a month after the initial policy change was first announced. “As this last month unfolded, we lost people’s trust and unintentionally created division where we had hoped for unity,” Trustee Maureen Karantz Smith and President Katie Conboy wrote. 

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Their email also noted that the school’s future is “profoundly informed by our journey toward equity, inclusion, and justice.”

In mid-November, Saint Mary’s communicated it would admit males to enroll as early as fall 2024 so long as they “consistently live and identify as women.” This decision sparked controversy from alumni and students who believed that this move conflicted with the school’s religious values.

Macy Gunnell, an alumna of Saint Mary’s, had a meeting with the school’s administration to discuss the new policy, urging the administration to reconsider. 

“We’ve had to do a lot of steps in fighting the administration in this and we’ve had to come out and be brave, we’ve had to put our names out there,” she told a local news outlet. “So we’re definitely very, very happy to see that the college is steering back towards its direction and its mission.”

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The college’s initial decision was also condemned by the Bishop of Fort Wayne–South Bend, Kevin Rhoades, who also urged the college to reconsider.

“To call itself a ‘women’s college’ and to admit male students who ‘consistently live and identify as women’ suggests that the college affirms an ideology of gender that separates sex from gender and claims that sexual identity is based on the subjective experience of the individual,” Rhoades stated.

Campus Reform has contacted Saint Mary’s College and Bishop Kevin Rhoades for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.