AN IN-PERSON CSWE APM IN FLORIDA IS DANGEROUS TO OUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING!

By now everyone with an accepted presentation for the 2021 Annual Public Meeting (APM) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has received a threatening notice that if you do not register for the in-person event your presentation will be cancelled. How could they make such a threat, especially to untenured faculty, folks in need of CEUs, and grad students hoping to make their first mark in academia?

To make such a demand in the context of the pandemic-related crisis in Florida—a state red with hospitalizaiotns and increased deaths—and with the CDC warnings on avoiding large gatherings—CSWE’s guarded threat rounds counter to our Code of Ethics where the profession espouses safety, well-being and dignity—for those we serve. Golly, shouldn’t the same principles guide CSWE’s response to its own members?

Of course there are financial concerns for the national office. Why not state them openly? Ask people to make sure to double our commitent to remote yet vital connection together for one more year. A little transparency and humility will go a lot farther in engaging members than veiled threats that undersandably worry the mosy vulnerable among us!

Steve Burghardt. These ideas are drawn from his “The End of Social Work: A Defesne of the Social Worker in Times of Transformation.” (Cognella, 2020)