Saint Mary’s College reverses controversial admissions policy
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The Saint Mary’s College board has reversed a controversial policy made earlier this year. Our partners at Fox Michiana report the college will not allow undergraduate admissions of transgender women.
The board approved a non-discriminatory admission police over the summer, but backlash from the decision by students and alumni led to the board’s reversal.
“We believed it affirmed our identity as an inclusive, Catholic, women’s college,” the board said in a statement this week. “It is increasingly clear, however, that the position we took is not shared by all members of our community.”
Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese was among those who opposed the admission of transgender women, saying he wasn’t consulted before the change was made.
“It is disappointing that I, as bishop of the diocese in which Saint Mary’s College is located, was not included or consulted on a matter of important Catholic teaching,” Rhoades said.
Meanwhile, leaders of Faithful America, which supported the original decision, called the college’s reversal “heartbreaking.”
“News of Saint Mary’s hurtful reversal broke just as Faithful America had been preparing to send the College thousands of predominantly Catholic signatures thanking them for their now-overturned historic and Christ-like inclusivity,” the organization said in a statement.