It’s not unusual for alumnae of Smith College to make the news. For a school that tends to have about 2,500 undergrads at a time, Smith punches above its weight in producing accomplished women.

Notable alumnae include writers Sylvia Plath, Madeleine l’Engle and Ann M. Martin (of “The Babysitters Club” fame); first ladies Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan; feminist icons Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem; Sen. Tammy Baldwin (the first openly gay U.S. senator) and Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont (also gay; the stereotypes about lesbians and Northampton, Massachusetts are … not entirely inaccurate); Julia Child; and Phebe Novakovic, the CEO of General Dynamics.

Here in Maine, in addition to yours truly, the state Senate president Mattie Daughtry is a Smithie. I could go on with my list of Smith graduates who changed the world but I only have so much space. 

That being said, it’s a bit unusual for Smith College, as an institution, to make the news of its own accord. I think the last time news about it spread noticeably beyond the alumna network was last year; a character in the “Stranger Things” finale wore a Smith College T-shirt.

So you can imagine my surprise when I started to see it pop up in my news feed. That surprise was immediately replaced by anger. The Trump administration is “investigating” Smith College for admitting transgender women.

I put “investigating” in quotes because to investigate generally means to uncover some sort of hidden or unknown truth, and Smith has been pretty clear about its actions. Smith has been admitting transgender women since 2015 — literally over 10 years. (I graduated in 2014 and wow do I feel old right now). For the past decade, the policy hasn’t been an issue for anyone. 

The funny thing is, there are already men on campus; there have been for years, including when I was there. Transgender men. Of course, presumably, the Trump administration doesn’t consider them “real” men, just like it doesn’t consider trans women “real” women.

But it’s funny to hear conservatives blather on about “biological men” in women’s spaces because yes, they’re there, I saw them myself! Dudes with beards and deep voices, because that’s what hormone replacement therapy does! And yet the world managed to keep spinning, and Smith keeps being a women’s college.

Also, for those who genuinely have a privacy concern, I can personally confirm all the dorm bathroom stalls have doors, as do all the showers. In college I never once saw anyone naked who I didn’t want to. (And because I was an incurable dork, this was a lot less frequent than perhaps I’d hoped.)

This lawsuit originated with a complaint from one of those dark money conservative legal groups that exists solely to roll back social progress. They couldn’t even find a Smith student to put her name on it. 

As written, Title IX does not apply to private college admissions, regardless of the college’s gender makeup. If it’s private, Title IX is not applicable to admissions. Full stop. (Or, technically, “In regard to admissions to educational institutions, this section shall apply only to institutions of vocational education, professional education and graduate higher education, and to public institutions of undergraduate higher education.” Full stop.).

So the Department of Education is going to have to find some other bogus charge to hit Smith with. And I’m sure it will. The point isn’t to “protect women” or whatever else President Epstein Files says. The goal is to attack transgender people with any tools the conservative government can find lying around. I guess the Trump administration doesn’t have anything better to do than to start wars, make gas prices go up and attack a minority group that makes up 1% of the population. 

I’m not surprised that the conservative movement has targeted Smith. Conservatives don’t like women, they don’t like education, and they especially can’t stand educated women. As I’ve written before, education is knowledge, knowledge is power, and an education is a particular type of power that cannot be taken away from a woman.

Also, as mentioned, Republicans are currently obsessed with attacking anyone who doesn’t conform to their narrow ideas about gender. Smith has always been a place that pushes the boundaries of what a woman can, should and is supposed to be.

When it was founded in 1871, doctors were afraid that if women were too educated, their uteruses would stop working. (My mother, grandmother and myself all had master’s degrees and birthed babies, so there goes that theory.)

Smith is a great place to figure out what sort of woman you want to be in the world. Some students figure out they aren’t actually women at all! College is a transformative experience.

I suspect the Trump team will be surprised, however. Presumably they thought they were attacking a bunch of blue-haired liberal wimps. Among my first thoughts upon hearing about the investigation (other than several unprintable swear words) was “Oh, they do not want this smoke.”

Smith College alumnae are incredibly well organized (a skill they learned, you guessed it, at college) and usually pretty well resourced on the whole. Where you find one Smithie, there’s usually another one close by. And let me tell you, we are cheesed off.

It’s inspired me to make my very first alumna donation to Smith, and it’s not like I’m rolling in extra funds. The alumnae online groups are hopping mad, and not just because the Department of Education’s press release insulted us by referring to Smith as an “all-girls college.” We’re women, whether you like it or not.