PRINCETON, NJ, March 14 ~ The
National Association of Scholars today renewed its call that the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services abandon its use of the Council for Social Work Education
(CSWE) – an accreditor of university social work programs – as a gatekeeper for
hiring social workers in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. It did
so in a letter sent in conjunction with the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE) and the American Council for Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) to Rear
Admiral Denise Canton, the Corps’ contact for policy development. HERE
in PDF is that joint letter.
In October, 2006, the three organizations had written separately to Assistant
Secretary for Health, Admiral John Agwunobi, expressing concern about the matter.
They noted that the department required all applicants for social work positions
to present MSW degrees from programs accredited by CSWE. This, they contended,
imported into federal decision making the unfair and constitutionally dubious
ideological litmus tests imposed on students by CSWE certified social work programs.
The Admiral’s response, which did not adequately address the issues raised,
prompted this second letter.
There is a very significant constitutional dimension to this matter. CSWE is the major accreditor
of university social work education programs. This means, the politically loaded
criteria found in the organization’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards,
such as the need for social work programs to “advance social and economic justice”
or to recognize “forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination,” can
have the effect of imposing on students beliefs at variance with their personal
convictions.
As a number of recent cases demonstrate, it can be difficult, if not impossible
for students from traditional religious backgrounds, or those who embrace more
conservative political beliefs, to complete CSWE accreted programs without suppressing
or unacceptably compromising their convictions. Thus, when The Department of
Health and Human Services employs CSWE certification as a requirement for hiring,
the federal government becomes implicated in constitutionally unsustainable
restrictions on the freedom of conscience and religious belief. The Department
of Health and Human Services should either require that CSWE drop these troublesome
criteria or forfeit its role as a federal employment gatekeeper.
Stephen H. Balch is the president of the National Association of Scholars.
