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The nation’s top women’s colleges are staying silent on whether they have plans to alter any policies in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows states to ban men from women’s sports.
Wellesley College, Barnard College, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Spelman College, Scripps College, Agnes Scott College and College of Saint Benedict all declined to comment or did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment in recent weeks.
The Supreme Court ruled in late June that defining athletic eligibility based strictly on biological sex is permissible under both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.
The colleges were asked whether the decision will affect transgender women’s eligibility to participate in non-varsity club sports or team practices, as many women’s colleges now enroll men who identify as women.
John Banzhaf, professor emeritus of public interest law at George Washington University, said in a news release that the decision “is likely to adversely affect at least five women’s colleges which have been admitting such males, and permitting them to shower and room with female students, as well as to compete against them in sports.”
He cites a sports litigation alert he penned arguing that the ruling strengthens the case against women’s colleges admitting biological males.
“The Court recognized that biological differences between males and females can create legitimate concerns regarding both competitive fairness and athlete safety. The opinion notes that allowing biological males to compete on women’s teams may increase the risk of injury and may undermine fair competition. Importantly, the Court emphasized that these concerns extend beyond traditionally recognized contact sports and may also arise in sports such as volleyball and softball,” he wrote.
In an interview with The College Fix, Banzhaf said that from a legal perspective, there is a way for transgender athletes to compete in college sports without it being unfair to female athletes.
“It can be done in the same way that athletes with various disabilities compete against each other, and older people compete in categories in some events, such as marathons,” Banzhaf said.
Banzhaf said dissenting justices used several terms he calls “linguistic traps.”
“Saying ‘biological male’ is like saying ’round circle’ — clearly redundant,” he said. “All men are biologically male, regardless of what is going on in their minds or what feelings they may have.”
Similarly, Banzhaf said, “sex assigned at birth” is very misleading, because it implies that sex reported and accepted at birth is somewhat arbitrary, and possibly changeable later in life.
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