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Many colleges issue press releases in August about their incoming classes, noting academic successes (record high SAT or ACT scores, for example), and all kinds of demographic information (numbers of minority students, the gender split, etc.). The last year has seen many more colleges let applicants indicate that they are transgender, and -- in what may be a first -- Williams College included the data in its press release on the incoming class. " Of the 552 incoming students, 267 identify as men, 251 as women. Two identify as trans or transgender, and one identifies as non-binary," says the release. A spokeswoman for the college said that officials there did not know of other colleges that have included this information in press releases, but that the goal was to be inclusive.
Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, a group that advocates for transgender students (and many other groups of students), said he had never previously seen a college issue a press release as Williams did. "It makes sense, now that schools are starting to ask gender identity and sexual orientation on their admissions applications," he said. "They have the information. This is the first I have heard of it being done. Campus Pride heavily encourages colleges to start to do exactly this."
