WSJ—If Macy Gunnell, a sophomore at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., hadn’t been listening during her shift at the school’s admissions office, she might have missed the news: The all-women’s Catholic college was planning to admit trans-identifying men the next academic year.
That would have undermined 180 years of school tradition, not to mention centuries of church teaching. Since the Sisters of the Holy Cross founded the college in 1844, it has admitted women only. “What alarmed me about the policy is the fact that it was not in accordance with the school’s foundations” or “basic” Catholic principles, Ms. Gunnell says.
The Board of Trustees approved the policy in June 2023, and President Katie Conboy said she announced “an update” at a presemester event in August. But it was news to students and alumnae when Ms. Gunnell began getting the word out in November. What happened next didn’t follow the typical campus script. The administration backtracked—in the face not of a left-wing mob but of conservative calls to stick to principle.
After learning of the policy, Ms. Gunnell and Claire Bettag, a junior, got to work. They put up posters across campus that quoted Genesis 1:27: “Male and female he created them.” A parent started a Facebook group for students, alumnae and others to express concerns, and hundreds joined. Someone anonymously circulated a petition callin for the administration to reverse course, which received more than 21,000 signatures. For those efforts, Ms. Bettag says she faced… Read More here>>
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