The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into Smith College for admitting transgender women. The probe by the department’s Office of Civil Rights will look at whether the all-women’s college in Massachusetts violated Title IX , a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education. The move is the latest by the Trump administration — whose rhetoric has frequently included attacks on trans people — to limit transgender rights in the U.S. The administration has said that Title IX prevents trans women from participating in women’s sports, suing several states and launching investigations into schools for not complying. Smith College , a private liberal arts school founded in 1871, has admitted trans women since 2015, along with many other elite women’s colleges. The school’s admission policies drew attention and sparked on-campus activism in 2013, when a trans high school senior was denied acceptance because her gender identity did not match the one on her financial aid forms.…