In order to graduate with a degree in social work from the state-funded University of Alaska, students must first demonstrate that they fully embrace controversial notions about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender identity and radical leftist agendas surrounding social justice and so-called anti-racism and white privilege.

A new report from Defending Education exposes hundreds of colleges around the nation which mandate that social work students pass core competencies showing they are agreeable to advancing hard-leftist social agendas.

The University of Alaska campuses in Anchorage and Fairbanks are among a long litany of schools that receive accreditation from the Council on Social Work (CSWE), which mandates the integration of anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) throughout the bachelor’s and master’s degree process.

Institutions that utilize CSWE must weave DEI doctrine into nine competencies in order to gain full accreditation. The University of Alaska’s social work programs are among hundreds nationwide that use CSWE in program competencies, curriculum, and student evaluations.

According to a UAA handbook, social work students who graduate with a bachelor in social work must “engage anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in practice.”

It adds that social workers must understand how “racism and oppression shape human experiences,” and color individual, family, group and organizational structures. In particular, it states that social workers must “understand the pervasive impact of White supremacy and privilege and use their knowledge, awareness, and skills to engage in anti-racist practice.”

Revelations about the University of Alaska social work programs comes just months after the Board of Regents ordered campuses to scrub their websites of any references to “affirmative action” or “DEI.”

The handbook adds that all students must “demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels.” This means advancing diversity agendas in the areas of gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, tribal status, immigration status, race and a long litany of other so-called “intersectional” identities.

“Social workers understand that this intersectionality means that a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege and power,” the UAA handbook states. “Social workers understand cultural humility and recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values, including social, economic, political, racial, technological, and cultural exclusions, may create privilege and power resulting in systemic oppression.”

The handbook goes on to cite the need for students to demonstrate “cultural humility” to manage their own “bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.”

The Fairbanks social work handbook echoes many of these points, noting that all students will “Embrace diversity. Maintain speech free of racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, stereotyping,” while using LGBTQ pronouns and working to advance DEI public policy and environmental justice initiatives.

Revelations about the University of Alaska social work programs comes just months after the UA Board of Regents ordered all state campuses to scrub their websites and other electronic or print material of references to “affirmative action,” “DEI” or “diversity, equity and inclusion.” Additionally, the regents directed that all staff position titles be purged of these references.

The regents’ order was in response to the Trump administration’s insistence that any consideration of race in hiring, admissions, scholarships and “all other aspects of student, academic and campus life” is illegal, and that schools engaged in this behavior stand to lose coveted federal grants.

Defending Education released its national report in an effort to expose how the Council on Social Work (CSWE) is continuing to impose radical anti-racism and DEI dogma on schools across the nation. The report notes that during the Biden Administration, the Department of Education approved over $100 million in grants to institutions of higher education to increase the number of trained social workers, with an emphasis on growing their ranks in K-12 public school districts.

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to contact the University of Alaska Board of Regents.

— The next Board of Regents meeting is scheduled for Feb. 18-19. Click here to see the agenda and opportunities for public comment. The full agenda will be posted roughly 10 days before the Feb. 18 meeting.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.