HBCU giant Morehouse College announced over the weekend that it will begin matriculating transgender men through their legendary college in the fall of 2020, following in the footsteps of its sister school, Spelman College, which has already implemented the historic measure.
The Atlanta-based institution, a historically Black male college, said in a statement that the new policy would not, however, include “individuals who identify as women regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth,” according to the Associated Press.
Morehouse is the famous alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee, Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain and many other prominent graduates.
According to the new policy, Morehouse says students who transition to female during their time at the Atlanta school will not be eligible to graduate. However, they can appeal to Morehouse’s president.
“I think Morehouse having the courage to speak to issues of masculinity in today’s environment is important,” Morehouse’s president, David Thomas, told the Associated Press. “For 152 years, the world has, in some way, seen Morehouse as the West Point of black male development.”
Spelman College implemented a similar admissions policy in 2017 and graduated the school’s first transgender woman in 2019, NBC News reports.
In a statement dispersed to the media, Morehouse said its policy was developed over 15 months.
“In a rapidly changing world that includes a better understanding of gender identity, we’re proud to expand our admissions policy to consider trans men who want to be part of an institution that has produced some of the greatest leaders in social justice, politics, business, and the arts for more than 150 years,” wrote Terrance Dixon, the school’s enrollment vice president.
