User:Skarp1019/sandbox

Not satisfied with the change, students as well as various alumni formed the group Q&A ("Queers and Allies") to advocate for more trans-inclusive policies. Q&A subsequently protested the policy on Facebook and other social media websites, as well as staging protests on campus that garnered significant media attention. In 2014, Smith formed an Admissions Policy Study Group, co-chaired by Daphne Lamothe and Audrey Smith, who at the time were associate professor of Afro-American studies and vice president for enrollment, respectively. The group recommended that to be considered for admission to Smith, applicants live and/or identify as a woman, check the "female" box when applying, and that the President establish a working group to support all trans and non-binary students at Smith. These recommendations went to the faculty and the Board of Trustees and in 2015, Smith announced a new policy that only required female identification on the common application. Under the policy, transgender men and non-binary or genderqueer applicants are not eligible for admission. This new policy also affirms that any student who, once admitted, transitions to another identity other than "female" and, who completes the college’s graduation requirements, will be awarded a Smith degree. The Resource Center for Sexuality and Gender; The Office for Equity and Inclusion and its Trans/Non-binary Working Group; Transcending Gender, a student group focused on support and education; and the Transgender Support Group run by Counseling Services work to support trans and non-binary students at Smith across the gender identity spectrum.

In the fall of 2018, students at Smith protested after a Smith employee called the police on a black student working at Smith over the summer, when the employee saw her in a common space. Organized by the Black Students’ Alliance and the Smith African & Caribbean Students Association, students protested and walked out of the annual Smith convocation. While the incident received national attention and news coverage, Smith conducted an independent investigation and investigators found that there was no bias in the incident. In response to the incident, Smith hosted an Inclusion and Diversity Conference on April 10th, 2019, featuring workshops and presenters run by various members of the Smith community. However, during that time another controversy arose: the hiring of Mount Holyoke College and Smith's joint police chief, Daniel Hect. Students from both campuses brought to their administrators' attention the fact that Hect had "liked" far-right tweets on Twitter, such as Donald Trump tweeting "Build that Wall!" and a tweet from the National Rifle Association, before deleting his account once the conflict with students began. Tensions came to a head at the conference, when students protested a presentation from the campus police, including Hect, about policing in a diverse community. Protests continued the next day when hundreds of students participated in a sit-in organized by the group Students for Social Justice and Institutional Change, or SSJIC, outside of John M. Greene Hall. The group was originally formed to advocate for undocumented students, but expanded to a broad coalition of marginalized students, including students of color, low-income and trans students. The coalition presented a broad list of demands to the administration, proposing reform to many sectors of campus life, including curriculum, health and counseling services, accessibility, policing, admissions policies and affinity housing. In response to the demands, Smith launched a working group charged with identifying key themes in response to the day of inclusion and ensuing protests and revamped the Office of Equity and Inclusion, adding programmatic changes, new or modified positions, training and development opportunities and new events to promote inclusion and equity.