SocialWorkSynergy

Due to the most recent light that has been shed on sexual harassment and sexual assault with the #MeToo and #TimesUp hashtags, we will be looking sexual harassment that takes place in schools of social work.

As one of our guest experts for this chat, Dr. Melissa (Missy) Bird, says, “The era of  ‘handling it internally’ must end.”

A former social work Ph.D. student colleague of Missy’s at the University of Southern California filed a complaint against a professor who was found guilty of sexual harassment; he has faced no repercussions and will still be exposed to students. Since Missy blogged about it, many other instances of academic harassment were brought to her attention.

As Macro social workers we have an ethical obligation to publicly address harassment in all of its forms. Given the gender makeup of the profession (89% female), many forms of  harassment and unequal treatment takes place…