Education Department is investigating whether Smith College’s admissions violate Title IX – but this law doesn’t actually apply to the case

Smith College is one of the 30 all-women's colleges in the U.S. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Since 2015, Smith College, one of the largest and most prestigious women’s liberal arts colleges in the United States, has allowed any student who identifies as female to apply to and attend the school.

Over the past decade or so, most other women’s colleges in the U.S. have taken similar steps, permitting transgender female students to apply.