“Being a women’s college matters. It’s a critical aspect of our identity and our impact in the world. It always has been, and it always will be,” says President H. Kim Bottomly in a video statement for alumnae posted on the website of the President’s Advisory Committee on Gender and Wellesley (PACGW).

“Transgender students now feel free to express their identity openly and are supported by their contemporaries when they do,” Bottomly went on to say. “Students today, and our applicants today, have the belief systems of today. … So at the time when transgender persons are free to be themselves, Wellesley needs to spell out new policies that acknowledge this freedom and yet to consider how this applies to our mission as a women’s college.”

Formed to explore this important question, the PACGW has been meeting frequently since early November 2014. The committee also interacts with the Gender and Wellesley Committee of the board of trustees.

Updates about the PACGW’s work are available on the group’s website, as well as a variety of resources about the evolving definition of gender. Go to the MyWellesley portal on www.wellesley.edu to access the PACGW website. You will be prompted to use your Wellesley Login. (For instructions on setting up your login, visit the Alumnae Association website. Or contact the Wellesley Computing Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-3333.)