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Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquerella (Republican photo by DON TREEGER)

SOUTH HADLEY — As Mount Holyoke College welcomed new and returning students to campus, the campus welcomed a sect of the population that had previously been barred from applying: transgender women.

College President Lynn Pasquerella announced the decision during convocation Tuesday afternoon.

"Mount Holyoke College welcomes applications for our undergraduate program from any qualified student who is female or identifies as a woman," the new admission policy states.

Pasquerella said the school remains committed to its mission as a women's college, but "what it means to be a woman is not static."

RELATED: Mount Holyoke College to allow transgender students to enroll; reactions to the decision on social media

The new admission policy states:

In the policy, the school defined further who is invited to apply for admission consideration.

Biologically born female; identifies as a woman

Biologically born female; identifies as a man

Biologically born female; identifies as other/they/ze

Biologically born female; does not identify as either woman or man

Biologically born male; identifies as woman

Biologically born male; identifies as other/they/ze and when “other/they” identity includes woman

Biologically born with both male and female anatomy (Intersex); identifies as a woman

Those who are born biologically male and identify as male cannot apply.

Mount Holyoke is the second single-sex college in the nation to modify their admission policy to welcome transgender students. Last week, Mills College in California became the first to do so.

Mills' president Alecia A. DeCoudreaux told Gay Star News: 'We were the first women's college west of the Rockies. We were the first women's college to have a computer science program. This is just another in many firsts.'