Salem College, a private liberal arts college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, describes itself as the “Oldest educational institution for girls and women in the United States.” But its gender equity policy defines eligible applicants as those who “were assigned female at birth or identify as women.”

According to the college’s website, Salem strives to be a “welcoming, gender-inclusive space,” centering its educational experience on “those who are female or identify as such.”

To make sure this isn’t just marketing language, I started an undergraduate application myself. The application allowed me to select “male” as my sex and displayed the following statement:

Screenshot from Salem College application 

If Salem admits men, what makes it a women’s college?

I’m also left with questions about whether Salem operates an Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

The college’s 2026-2027 undergraduate and graduate catalogs list Jamila Young as Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. But the current faculty directory lists Young as the Executive Director of Campus Culture and Care and Assistant Professor of Health Law and Policy. And if you search the faculty directory for “Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion,” nothing comes up.

It is possible that Salem has recently renamed its Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to the Center for Campus Culture and Care. If so, Salem would hardly be unique. Colleges and universities across the country have been renaming DEI offices to avoid federal scrutiny while leaving many of the same programs and priorities in place.

I also noticed that Salem’s new president, Dr. Jill Fleuriet, previously served in senior leadership at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which Salem boasts as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. According to her biography, Fleuriet has also served as a board member and consultant to organizations, one of which, the college says, focuses on “minority aging,” an area of research that examines the health and aging of racial and ethnic minority populations. Some scholarship in the field argues that exposure to racism contributes to accelerated biological aging among minorities.

I contacted Salem College to confirm whether its gender equity policy does, in fact, permit the admission of biological males and whether the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion has been renamed, reorganized, or eliminated. The college did not respond.

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