A Call to Professional Participation
By the time this is in
print, it may well be all over but the shouting. The three opportunities for
providing feedback to the Commissions on Educational Policy (COEP) and
Accreditation (COA) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) concerning
the proposed Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) have passed.
And if the process continued according to the announced schedule, CSWE’s Board
of Directors has already voted on the fourth and (probably) final version of
EPAS. If the board has voted “no” (the board must vote on the entire document
and is not permitted to do any revising, no matter how minor), the commissions
will go back to the drawing board. If the board has voted ”yes,” the new policy
and standards will probably become effective July 1, 2002.
Many Christian social work
educators, some in Christian colleges and universities and others in secular
institutions, have discussed EPAS and debated the issues on a number of
occasions and in a variety of Christian and secular venues: several workshops
and the NACSW dinner held in conjunction with the Annual Conference of the
Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD) as well as the
BPD Listserv; the Christian College Educators Forum at the Annual Convention
and Training Conference of NACSW as well as the NACSW-Educators Listserv;
several workshops and the NACSW dinner held in conjunction with the CSWE Annual
Program Meeting (APM); as well as meetings and conversations in our own educational
programs and institutions. Perhaps it is time to think about any lessons we may
have learned. Let me propose three possibilities.
1. Christian social work
educators should continue to develop our capacities to be winsome participants
in the sometimes volatile fray of professional dialog. The process of
participation has been an intricately woven fabric of formal and informal
networking: private e-mail, listserv distribution, face-to-face and telephone
conferencing, planned opportunities to discuss the issues with Christian
colleagues, seemingly endless sitting in large meetings, wondering whether to
venture a distinctively Christian opinion. I recall being in a feedback circle
of about twenty (largely secular) colleagues. After I suggested a distinctively
Christian idea with regard to accreditation standard 6 (“Human Diversity and
Nondiscrimination”), thus, identifying myself to the group as “one of them,” a
gay colleague reached over and slapped me on the knee (quite affably). The
tension of differing opinions was palpable, but so was the desire to find a way
to common ground. On another occasion, in a larger group, I again identified
myself as a follower of Jesus who teaches in a Christian college, and
speculated concerning a way to achieve this common ground. The silence that
ensued was deafening, but a Christian colleague across the table from me (a
member of the COA) passed me a note asking that I put the idea in writing. And
later, a member of the CSWE staff (probably not a believer) telephoned me the
same request. Perhaps it is time for a few leaders in the movement of
Christians in social work to arrange to meet with a few leaders in the gay and
lesbian movement in social work to begin an ongoing dialogue.
2. Christian social work
educators (and practitioners, for that matter) should develop a comprehensive
strategy for “placing” Christians in key leadership positions throughout the
secular mainstream of the social work profession. NACSW’s Board of Directors
has discussed this need for a number of years and taken a few steps in this
direction. This is not to say that no Christians have ever been in key
positions or that this is not currently the case. Christians have served and
are serving in staff positions, as elected officers, and as members of critical
planning and legislative bodies in NASW, CSWE, BPD, and so forth, but not, I
suspect, in numbers proportional to their presence in the professional and
educational communities. And in recent months, I have noticed several
Christians standing for election for various positions. Nevertheless, a
comprehensive strategy is needed. Almost two decades ago, in a hallway
conversation with a former executive director of one of the secular
professional organizations, he “explained” to me that various groups have been
able to influence organizational policies and actions because they are
deliberate and organized. We need to heed this observation.
Christian social work
educators should participate in professional dialog in ways that attract
secular educators to Christ. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though
God were making his appeal through us” (II Corinthians 5:20). God has placed
each of us in relationships (personal and professional) with people who are in
dire need of a relationship with Jesus. In the midst of the dialog concerning
EPAS, I have been asking myself what secular social work educators perceive
when they observe me attempting to influence the final shape of EPAS. Do they
see some sort of religious fanatic determined to impose an archaic system of
beliefs and practice on everyone around him? Or do they see a loving, socially
concerned person, committed to human well-being, who approaches his work from
the perspective of a worldview that could have meaning for their own lives?
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it
be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled by men. You are the light
of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp
and put it under a bowl. Instead they put in on its stand, and it gives light
to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in
heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16).
Plan to attend the 17th
Annual Forum for Social Work Educators in Christian Colleges, to be held at
NACSW’s 51st Annual Convention and Training Conference, in San
Antonio, October 18-21. Also, be on the lookout for an e-mail announcement of
the annual NACSW dinner gathering to be held in conjunction with the BPD
Conference in Denver, October 31-November 4. If you have not routinely been
receiving announcements of the dinner gatherings held in conjunction with the
BPD Conference and the CSWE APM, please ask NACSW executive director Rick
Chamiec-Case (info@nacsw.org) to add
you to the NACSW distribution list.
NACSW
Social Work Education Resource Specialist