FIX EXCLUSIVES
The sole accrediting agency for social work education in the U.S. is under fire for its diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates, with a watchdog group demanding the requirements removal.
The pro-meritocracy medical organization Do No Harm has sent a letter to the Council of Social Work Education demanding it remove all DEI mandates from its accreditation standards, including ones that require students understand “the pervasive impact of White supremacy” and “demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice.”
“These standards carry throughout the curriculum, and therefore these ideas, which emphasize identity politics and unequal treatment of patients based on immutable characteristics, are manifest in virtually every course that social workers pursue,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Chairman at Do No Harm and author of the letter, in an email to The College Fix.
He said the standards encourage programs “to treat students as activists-in-training,” sacrificing a proper clinical education for one promoting “a toxic ideology that is antithetical to core principles of healthcare.”
Matt Hooper, CSWE’s vice president of communications and membership, told The College Fix that it has received Do No Harm’s letter and plans on responding within the next couple of weeks.
When asked if DEI values are important to a social work education, he said that they “continue to be essential.”
“Understanding diversity is recognizing that everyone has overlapping identities tied to race, gender, educational background, location, and more—and these factors shape a person’s experiences,” he said. “Preparing social workers to recognize and respond to this reality is training that is required for ethical and competent practice.”
Hooper added CSWE will not be forcing schools to break any laws through their accreditation standards. “In states where anti-DEI legislation has been enacted, our organization is working with programs to ensure they can meet the required educational standards and fully abide by their local laws.”
In one standard, CSWE mandates students “understand and critique the history and current structures of social policies and services and the role of policy in service delivery through rights- based, anti-oppressive, and anti-racist lenses.”
Another requires students to understand “anti-racist and anti-oppressive perspectives” when evaluating outcomes and delivering effectiveness.
Currently, the Council of Social Work Education accredits almost 900 programs across the country, including the University of Washington, Baylor University, and Arizona State University.
The three universities did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment.
Even Northern Kentucky University is accredited by CSWE. In an undercover video by Accuracy in Media, Dr. Caroline Macke, the director of the School of Social Work, said that it requires them to teach nine competencies, one of which “focuses exclusively on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”
Goldfarb said he believes the mandates effectively indoctrinate students “in a particular set of political beliefs and ideologies.
And what’s more, he added, “increasing evidence suggests that pursuing these ideas actually worsens any conflicts between groups of people and creates more animosity and more divisiveness.”
Goldfarb warned CSWE that it also may be violating federal law, most notably due to President Trump’s April 2025, executive order “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” which targets DEI mandates within accreditation standards.
“Educational time is precious,” he told The Fix. “Pursuing political issues and creating myths about race and attitudes does nothing to further the knowledge base of social workers.”
Arnold Cantu, a former social work doctoral student who faced heavy criticism for refusing to tout social justice, told The College Fix the “ideology of DEI, though by outward appearances with noble intentions, has warped and bastardized the profession’s mission and values in, truly, intellectually lazy and harmful ways.”
Due to his past experiences with DEI in academia, Cantu said he is happy to hear the Council of Social Work Education is being pressured to abandon the ideology.
“It’s a much-needed public way of holding a significant organization (non-profit, mind you) accountable,” he said. “Me and fellow social workers have discussed the carrot versus stick approach for reform within social work—in particular, with its single sole accrediting body that is the CSWE.”
“I do not see the CSWE reforming willingly and abandoning its commitment to all-things-DEI. The stick will be needed.”
Cantu said he believes that Do No Harm should sue the council if it rejects its request.
The group requested a response from the Council of Social Work Education by June 13.
If it chooses not to remove its DEI standards, Goldfarb told The Fix that Do No Harm “will pursue every remedy that’s available, including working with the Department of Education and other regulatory agencies involved in conferring this privilege.”
MORE: Glaciers are ‘more than human beings,’ have ‘agency,’ science journal says
