Women's Colleges that Exclude Women, Feminist Colleges, Queer Colleges

Who goes to Bryn Mawr College? Who is at the table?

Five types of students: undergraduate, graduate, McBrides, post-bacs (post-baccalaureate), summer students

Undergraduate has the most restrictions:

• Female-bodied
• Students who can afford $52,000+ tuition or benefit from financial aid
• Fluent in English
• Can perform well on standardized testing
• Have a strong basis in academics and/or extra-curriculars
• Perform well in writing

As a result (from collegeboard.com) 1st-year students:

• Geography:
• 14% In-state students
• 86% Out-of-state students
• 18% Non-Resident Alien
• Schooling:
• 64% in top 10th of graduating class
• 92% in top quarter of graduating class
• 99% in top half of graduating class

Who isn't at the table?

• Male-bodied individuals (MtF, male-bodied genderqueers, etc.)
• Exceptions theoretically exist for individuals who have gone through [enough] hormones, surgery, lifestyle changes, etc. to be considered to be "legally" living as a female
• Note: legally generally means by documents, and this can vary by state or country. In most cases it requires surgery, which not all individuals want. See here for more details.
• Intersexed individuals living as men
• Men
• Undocumented immigrants (except in phenomenal cases--however, these individuals are still the exceptions)
• 52% of applicants [are rejected] (according to collegeboard.com statistics
• Those who do not receive enough financial aid (subjective) and cannot afford it (or the plane ticket, or the storage, or the books, etc.)

Bryn Mawr College, statistically speaking, is a women's college that excludes women. To me, what this says is that BMC is not a sanctuary for women seeking higher education, but the same as any other college: a business. As a result, BMC only admits certain kinds of women. Additionally, if BMC starts admitting certain kinds of students, the structure of the whole organization could change. With the admission of a single male-bodied transwoman, BMC would lose its legal status as a women's college (see comments about Title IX here). It would officially become co-ed and have to start following procedures that other co-ed colleges do, particularly under Title IX. (See also this article (PDF))

But as many trans* (definition) students have said, there isn't (yet) a "transgender" college. For some, Bryn Mawr's generally accepting administration and student body may be the next best thing. Though I don't have statistics to quote for this, I would generally assume that trans* students are generally more accepted at Bryn Mawr than at other colleges and universities (including instances of violence, harassment, discrimination, etc).

So the question I posit is this: Would Bryn Mawr be a more inclusive place for women if it wasn't labelled as a "women's college," but something like a "feminist college"?

Of course, this is assuming a lot of things, including that becoming more specialized/exclusive is a way of producing inclusivity. How would you screen for this, or select for it? It also acknowledges that this population might include male-bodied men (cis-gendered).

What about a queer college to encompass trans* students? There are already smaller programs in the US such as summer camps and after-school programs or clubs targeted to queer youth (example).

I am not suggesting that Bryn Mawr should change. There are a lot of reasons why I don't think this change would be likely or feasible. However, it is something to think about. Regardless, this would seemingly only eliminate one of the divides: sex/gender. Would it be able to eliminate divides such as class, or those with learning disabilities?

I am not sure if it's possible to have a college that would create a "safe space" for women by overcoming some of these divides and yet still have the same credibility as other colleges.