Physical Education

Transgender and gender expansive students often find fulfilling the P.E. requirement to be challenging or stressful, as many classes require workout clothes that may not work with their gender expression.

The following P.E. classes can be done in street clothes, are held outside of athletic facilities, and are low impact:

  • Badminton (Cowling)
  • Beginning Golf (outside at driving range)
  • Beginning Yoga (Cowling)
  • Bowling
  • Ice Skating (Bald Spot)
  • Social Dance (Cowling/Weitz Center)
  • Table Tennis (Laird Stadium)
  • Tai Chi (Cowling)
  • Wilderness Survival

Athletics and Recreation

In November 2014, Physical Education, Athletics and Recreation (PEAR) adopted a policy on the inclusion of transgender athletes in intercollegiate, intramural, and club sports at Carleton College.

Like the P.E. classes above, the following club sports can be done in street clothes, are held outside of athletic facilities, and are low impact:

  • Alpine Ski
  • Badminton
  • Equestrian
  • Nordic Ski
  • Sailing
  • Table Tennis
  • Tennis

Additional Resources

  • NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes
    • Carleton’s policy for varsity athletes is based on the NCAA’s guidelines.
  • Transathlete
    • A resource for students, athletes, coaches, and administrators to find information about trans inclusion at various levels of play.
  • GO! Athletes
    • A support network of current and former LGBTQ collegiate and high school athletes.
  • Athlete Ally
    • Athlete Ally provides public awareness campaigns, educational programming and tools and resources to foster inclusive sports communities. Carleton alum Laura Clise ’01 is a board member.
  • Campus Pride
    • Campus Pride maintains an index and scorecard of the LGBTQ-inclusiveness of intercollegiate athletics and recreation at campuses around the country, as well as a database of schools that have trans-inclusive intramural policies.