Cambridge University ignoring the Supreme Court ruling?

So no evidence whatsoever then as is normal when ppl come here airily waving their hands saying "ooooh but men wearing dresses and performing female stereotypes have been in all women's everything's for years and years and years and you just didn't notice because they passed so well"

As outlined in the gender policy which I will link here, Newnham explains that it is not a single sex space per se. There are male staff across all areas of the site and it is also very common for students to have male partners stay in college with them and use the communal bathroom facilities etc. There are even male academics who are affiliated with the college. Nobody at newnham is expecting not to come across any men in the college. Where there are religious or other reasons why someone might need a single-sex space, appropriate provisions are put in place and the presence of a very small number of trans students (based on UK census data it would be 0.6 of a student across the whole undergraduate population) does not prevent this.

here is the policy, given along with justifications: https://newn.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2025-10/rationale.pdf

Well I’m more than 4 decades old. Not everyone agrees with you. I never post on these threads normally, mostly people who don’t want to be shouted at avoid them.

I'm not sure the subject heading is correct. The colleges decide who they accept, not the university. As long as the university (as opposed to college) buildings have single-sex facilities and services where those are necessary, then the university isn't violating the SC ruling.

As regards the colleges, it's an interesting question to what extent the women's colleges are violating the SC ruling by accepting male students because it's up to them whether their student composition is single sex or mixed sex. The real issue arises if they are then also allowing male students to use the female students' loos and bathrooms or whether they are setting aside any loos and bathrooms for the use of a handful of male students who claim to "identify" as women that they might accept.

There are plenty of great mixed-sex colleges your daughter could apply to.

Male staff don't take a female student's space. Male guests don't take a female student's space. By your argument, my all-girl secondary school was mixed because of men being on the staff.

If this is so-called logic is what Cambridge grads are spouting, I'm glad I went to a poly.

Dd is going to the Cambridge open day coming up, I got an email through about the colleges and was having a read through. There’s a section about “gender identity” and how it impacts on what colleges you can apply to. There are two women’s colleges but both accept anyone who identifies as a woman!

This is from Murray Edwards:
“At the admissions level, we will consider any student who, at the point of application, identifies as a woman“

How can this still be allowed? It’s self ID too so has NEVER been legal for the purposes of the eqA.

Do you mean historically there have been men studying at these colleges wearing dresses and skirts and no one noticed because they passed sooo well?? I'm sure you can evidence that other than just your word otherwise we'll be treating that the same way we treat all the usual hyperbolic claims by TRA that men have been using all of women's spaces and places for literally ever and no one ever noticed ie total bullshit

I note as well that these claims are often made by people who have barely been alive more than 2 decades....

Which decades?

There was Rachel Padman, but he was a fellow.

Newnham and Murray Edwards are both wonderful wonderful places that promote females in education and are hugely accepting of people from all backgrounds. They are also both built on the premise of making education accessible to people who have historically been disadvantaged due to gender. They are safe havens for people who may previously have felt unable to be themselves in education for fear of discrimination or even abuse. As a cis person, I never once felt threatened by any members of my college (which is one of these two) and would be much more upset at the thought of studying somewhere that excluded others who identify as females and quite frankly are significantly more marginalised and disadvantaged than myself. I don’t know any trans females at either (that’s not to say they aren’t there - just that the numbers are INCREDIBLY low and that their presence has never made an ounce of difference to anybody else’s life). The media is selling a belief that trans people are inherently dangerous but there is ZERO empirical peer-reviewed scientific evidence for this (and lots of evidence suggesting they are more likely to be victimised). The Newnham and Medwards communities voted on the issue and voted in favour of self-ID - the student body accept trans students and are happy to share their college with them

@murasaki I’m an alumna of one of the women’s colleges too and I’m here to tell you that you clearly didn’t notice! There have been trans women students and faculty at Newnham for decades!

Newnham and Murray Edwards are both wonderful wonderful places that promote females in education and are hugely accepting of people from all backgrounds. They are also both built on the premise of making education accessible to people who have historically been disadvantaged due to gender. They are safe havens for people who may previously have felt unable to be themselves in education for fear of discrimination or even abuse. As a cis person, I never once felt threatened by any members of my college (which is one of these two) and would be much more upset at the thought of studying somewhere that excluded others who identify as females and quite frankly are significantly more marginalised and disadvantaged than myself. I don’t know any trans females at either (that’s not to say they aren’t there - just that the numbers are INCREDIBLY low and that their presence has never made an ounce of difference to anybody else’s life). The media is selling a belief that trans people are inherently dangerous but there is ZERO empirical peer-reviewed scientific evidence for this (and lots of evidence suggesting they are more likely to be victimised). The Newnham and Medwards communities voted on the issue and voted in favour of self-ID - the student body accept trans students and are happy to share their college with them

@murasaki I’m an alumna of one of the women’s colleges too and I’m here to tell you that you clearly didn’t notice! There have been trans women students and faculty at Newnham for decades!

Newnham and Murray Edwards are both wonderful wonderful places that promote females in education and are hugely accepting of people from all backgrounds. They are also both built on the premise of making education accessible to people who have historically been disadvantaged due to gender. They are safe havens for people who may previously have felt unable to be themselves in education for fear of discrimination or even abuse. As a cis person, I never once felt threatened by any members of my college (which is one of these two) and would be much more upset at the thought of studying somewhere that excluded others who identify as females and quite frankly are significantly more marginalised and disadvantaged than myself. I don’t know any trans females at either (that’s not to say they aren’t there - just that the numbers are INCREDIBLY low and that their presence has never made an ounce of difference to anybody else’s life). The media is selling a belief that trans people are inherently dangerous but there is ZERO empirical peer-reviewed scientific evidence for this (and lots of evidence suggesting they are more likely to be victimised). The Newnham and Medwards communities voted on the issue and voted in favour of self-ID - the student body accept trans students and are happy to share their college with them

Section e of the document helpfully linked by @TeachWithMissM at 00:12 after you posted says
Newnham does not have a fixed intake of undergraduate and postgraduate students
and assesses eligible applications on the basis of academic criteria. Accordingly, the
admission of one applicant does not presuppose or require the rejection of another.

I’m not sure I wholly believe that. The college website says
all Newnham undergraduates live on site and are always close to their friends.
(followed by
Postgraduate students can choose dedicated graduate houses and flats nearby, with a lovely common room in College.)

They recently replaced part of their buildings on site: the new buildings in my opinion are beautiful. However, if I remember correctly, when they originally applied for planning permission they said that they need extra accommodation for students - despite letting out some of their existing off-site property on the open market.

If they accommodate all undergraduates on site there must be a limit to the number they can take.