Following the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, the College of Social Work affirms the worth and dignity of every person in our society. We support persons with a broad range of diverse identities, including but not limited to age, caste, class, color, culture, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, generational status, immigration status, legal status, marital status, political ideology, race, nationality, religion and spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, and tribal sovereign status (CSWE EPAS, 2022). We believe that all people in our country have fundamental human and civil rights, with special attention to those delineated in the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and in state and federal court rulings.

As social workers, we understand how racism, discrimination, and oppression shape and often impede life possibilities and trajectories through organizational, local, state, and national policies. The NASW Code of Ethics calls on social workers to stand up as allies with those who experience racism, discrimination, and oppression. Social workers should actively advocate and engage in strategies to eliminate oppressive structural barriers to ensure that social resources, rights, and responsibilities are accessible to all people and that civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights are protected.

Our faculty and staff are always working to make UTCSW a place where all people belong, a college that reflects the NASW Code of Ethics and CSWE accreditation standards. The UT College of Social Work takes steps to support our students, faculty, staff, and alumni who struggle in the face of racism, discrimination, and oppression. The College hosts speakers and activities that help us discuss difficult and contentious topics through the lens of social work values and ethics.  The faculty teach advocacy skills to our students, and faculty and administrators try to model them in our own professional lives. Faculty, staff, and administrators are available to discuss concerns and provide emotional and practical support. We are not perfect; in fact, we know that we do not always live into these values. But we pledge to be reflexive, to think critically about our own work and our expression, and to keep working, individually and together, to better support our students and our communities.