by Evie Fordham
The nation’s only all-male historically black college announced a new transgender policy after its board of trustees approved it on Saturday.
Morehouse College in Atlanta will begin accepting transgender men next year, college leaders told The Associated Press.
“I think Morehouse having the courage to speak to issues of masculinity in today’s environment is important,” Morehouse College President David Thomas told The AP. “For 152 years, the world has, in some way, seen Morehouse as the West Point of black male development.”
Transgender men, meaning they have transitioned from female to male, can enroll at the college starting in 2020, but students who were born male and now identify as female will not be allowed to. Morehouse “will continue to use masculine pronouns” and “the language of brotherhood” according to the new policy as cited by The AP.
The college will not guarantee a degree to students who transition from male to female while enrolled, however.
Morehouse alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., film director Spike Lee and former Atlanta Democratic Mayor Maynard Jackson, reported The AP. The college now joins more than 1,000 other U.S. colleges and universities that have approved a transgender policy.
Morehouse is in a very distinct, small club of U.S. all-male colleges. The only other all-male colleges are Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Announcement of the policy comes just days after two House Republicans joined nearly every House Democrat in sponsoring a bill that would allow male athletes who identify as transgender to compete in women’s athletics.
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Evie Fordham is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.
Interesting article. Normally when we discuss the transgender issue, it concerns trans-women (men who biologically change themselves into women). Very seldom do we discuss trans-men (women who biologically change themselves into men). Nor was I aware that any all-male colleges still existed. Even the all-female colleges, while still existent, have had a major decline since the early 1970’s when once the all-female Vasser College went co-ed (mainly for financial reasons). Pembroke College and Sophie Newcomb Colleges merged with the formerly all-male universities of Brown and Tulane respectively, and the list goes on. Even still all-female colleges will often accept male students, provided that they list themselves as students from other colleges and universities. Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges, both from Western Massachusetts respectively, allow male students from other colleges that DO admit men to enroll in some of their classes.
The willingness of historically socially conservative colleges like Morehouse (where Martin Luther King, Jr. enrolled and learned many of his civil rights skills and values) now show a willingness to admit transgendered people as a sign of enlightenment and changing times.