Dear student/faculty/staff/alumni/allies of Silberman School of Social Work:

In this watershed moment in US history, we the students, alumni and faculty of Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College stand with historically oppressed and marginalized groups across the country to denounce white supremacy in all it forms. This has also renewed our commitment and added a new sense of urgency to eliminating systemic racism in our institutions of higher education as we, along with our clients and communities, are actively under threat. Out of our deep frustration with and commitment to our profession, to this school, and to our mandates in the social work code of ethics, these are our demands of our academic institution and our commitments to hold ourselves to anti-racist social work practice.

Many of us chose to study at the Silberman School of Social Work because the school’s commitment to anti-oppressive practice aligns deeply with our values. However, as we learn in our coursework, institutions sometimes reproduce the very systems of oppression we seek to change. We recognize and name that we are not in full integrity with our commitment to anti-oppressive practice, especially when it comes to addressing racism in our institution.

In the last few years, our administration has taken many important steps to fulfill this commitment. But we still have a long way to go. We must have the humility to face ourselves honestly, and the courage to bring our actions and policies into true alignment with our values. It’s time for us to come together as a united voice and powerfully declare that we can do better!

By signing your name to this petition, you can be a part of bringing concrete and lasting changes to the Silberman School of Social Work. Rather than presenting a list of problems, students across all methods and programs have collaborated to research and present a slate of actionable solutions the school can take right now. We are committed to work with the administration to make these solutions reality.

Your support is crucial to the power of this effort. We urge you to sign your name to show your commitment to make change happen in the school.

Below is a summary of these demands. View FULL DOCUMENT HERE.

Our Demands of Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College

In this watershed moment in US history, we the students, alumni and faculty of Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College stand with historically oppressed and marginalized groups across the country to denounce white supremacy in all it forms. This has also renewed our commitment and added a new sense of urgency to eliminating systemic racism in our institutions of higher education as we, along with our clients and communities, are actively under threat. Out of our deep frustration with and commitment to our profession, to this school, and to our mandates in the social work code of ethics, these are our demands of our academic institution and our commitments to hold ourselves to anti-racist social work practice.

Hiring of faculty and administration: We demand that Silberman create a hiring action plan with the student body to ensure that by 2020 at least half of the tenure-track faculty and administration are people of color. We demand that students be invited to join existing hiring and search committees. We demand for finalists to address race and racism in the U.S. in their colloquium.

Committees: We demand that student voices be the center of the Social Justice, Curriculum, and Faculty committees, specifically students of color, queer, transgender, intersex, low-income, and students with special needs. We demand for the transparency of every committee to maintain accountability.

Practice Lab: We demand that the Practice Lab curriculum be co-designed by a task force consisting of second-year students, faculty, and external individuals trained in anti-racist dialogue; this task force should be comprised of at least 50% the voices of people of color, queer, transgender, intersex, low-income, and persons with special needs.

Curriculum: We demand that students from each method be involved in the curriculum development process. We demand for a fully funded, comprehensive review of the curriculum at Silberman to collect data on demographics of authors and the publishing year/academic field of all assigned readings. We demand that end of semester faculty evaluations be made clearly available for students.

Budget: We demand for increased transparency of the Budget. We demand for a portion of endowment to be set aside for anti-racist student organizing and community building, Common Time funds, curriculum review, faculty training, and tenure-track hiring lines for hiring of faculty who work on critical issues related to social justice.

Faculty Training: We demand that all Silberman faculty members be trained by a third party consultant on the history of race and racism in the U.S. and in the social work field and facilitating intersectional conversations around race and racism.

Common Time: We demand that three days be set aside each semester for Common Time. We demand that specific accommodations are made for OYR students in order to participate in the planning process and attend. We demand that students and faculty who are not part of a chartered group to be able to actively participate in planning. We demand that childcare be provided on these days.

Physical Space: We demand that a new enclosed space, with a minimum capacity of 30 people, be designed and equipped for student use, separate from the room reservation process. We demand for a separate room equipped for student meditation, self-care, spiritual and faith practice. We uplift the Gender and Sexuality Coalition's demand that all the signs on the restrooms at Silberman School of Social Work building be changed to all gender restrooms.

OYR students: We demand for a quantification of the race and class-based representation disparities between the full-time two year, advanced standing, accelerated, and OYR students. We demand for 2 advisors to advocate for the needs of OYR students. We demand for the library, field placement office, and writing center to have extended hours for OYR student needs.

Field Education and Placement: We demand for protocol around supporting students who are facing racism, transphobia, homophobia, and other oppression at their placements. We demand for a stipend for travel.

Mental Health Counseling and Student Wellness: We demand for 2 full time on-site mental health counselors, including at least one counselor of color. We demand that counselors be trained in anti-oppressive and culturally competent social work practice and that these services be free of charge or on an income-based sliding scale.

Regular Open Dialogue: We demand for an open monthly student forum where the Deans and the heads of the committees and task forces that deal with issues of race and racism are in attendance.

Response: We demand that Dean Cavanaugh and the heads of the committees and task forces responsible for the outlined internal policies create a timeline of actionable steps in response to these asks in partnership with the student body by February 15th, 2017. We also demand that a Town Hall be held on February 21st, 2017, at Common Time.

List of FAQ's

Q: Who wrote these demands?

A: This document is a collective effort, and the contributors and editors include students of all years, methods and tracks, faculty, staff and alumni allies. It is compiled by student organizers who are part of the Student Power Coalition. These demands draw from a long history student organizing at Silberman, and have been in motion since the Spring of 2015. Edits will be made to these demands in the winter of 2016/2017, and your involvement is welcomed and needed. Please contact us at coalition.studentpower@gmail.com, if you want to be involved with this effort.

Q: I agree with some of the demands, but there are some I’m not sure about. What should I do?

A: This document is a collection of specific solutions that students have proposed for this moment, but it is a living document that is ever changing based on your feedback. We urge you to put your name behind this effort to show our institution that we see that change needs to happen.

Q: Have the decision makers seen this document?

Yes, the student organizers have been intentional about forming relationships with decision makers to share the work that we are doing, and seek their support and feedback. This document has been shared with all of the decision makers listed, and each of them have been invited into conversation with the student body.

Q: Can I sign anonymously?

A: No. We are asking for your name in order to most powerfully capture the breadth of the Silberman students, faculty, alumni and allies who are in support of this living document. By signing publicly, you also make a commitment to holding Silberman accountable to responding to these demands.

Q: This is great! How can support the organizing besides signing?

A: Thank you! Here are some ways that you can support the organizing:

• Share this petition with your networks! Post it on social media and talk about it in your classes.
• If you are a current student and are interested in becoming involved with the Student Power Coalition, fill out this form at bit.ly/spcinterest and we’ll be in touch!
• For current students, please join us, on November 22nd and 23rd, at 1pm, as we come together to share and process our stories, ideas and commitments to holding our institution accountable to anti-racist practice and principles during this time of great violence and divisiveness in our country.