Student Support Letter IV

November 4, 2008
RE: In Support of Andre Massena

To Whom It May Concern:
As an alumnus of the Department of Social Work at Binghamton University’s College of Community and Public Affairs I feel compelled to write this letter in support of fellow students who are treated or have been treated unjustly and for those who have been, or are in the process of being “advanced” out of the program for petty and/or unjust reasons. Due to the fact that I am an alumnus of the program who is currently working in the community, I must insist on keeping my identity anonymous for I feel I might also be threatened or have my reputation tarnished by faculty in the department due to writing this letter.

As a former student in the Department of Social Work I have been taught to fight for social justice, to give a voice to the voiceless and to help free the oppressed. However, I have also learned that when it is the Department of Social Work who unjustly treats and oppresses students I must not advocate for these students for if I did I might have also been forced out of the program. Over the past few years a culture of fear has evolved among a great deal of the social work students. When a student who had one semester left was unfairly “advanced” out of the program students were outraged! Unfortunately, these students were also very afraid that if they advocated for this student to be reinstated to the program that they too, most of them with a semester left, would be forced out of the program. When I asked students what we could do in order to advocate for the student who was unfairly being removed or “advanced” from the program they told me to just keep my head down and my mouth shut and to wait until after I graduated and had a degree in my hand before I tried to do anything to assist this student. Unfortunately, I felt I had to do what the other students said in order to graduate without incident.

I am also deeply concerned because this is no longer an issue that is only known within the Department of Social Work. I know of many people in the community who have refused to get their MSW degree at Binghamton University and have choose to drive an hour to Marywood or Syracuse University due to Binghamton’s growing reputation for unfairly and unjustly treating their students, especially in the area of field education. I also know of agencies in the community who advise their workers to obtain their MSW degree at Marywood University to avoid the chance of unjustly being treated and the extreme stress that comes along with being treated in this manor. I have become embarrassed to tell people that I graduated from the MSW program at Binghamton University for when I have done this I often get a very strong reaction from other social workers. Sometimes they tell me that their sorry that I had to be involved with that program because they have heard how terribly students in the program have been treated, especially in regard to field education.

Overall, I feel that the faculty and the staff in the department of social work at Binghamton University, including the director, are abusing their power and not abiding by the National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) values and ethics where students are concerned. Students First Amendment Rights, their right to talk with other professionals in the community, the right to having their e-mails be confidential, and their freedom of conscience among other things are being violated. This is unacceptable! It is for these reasons that I am deeply disappointed in the functioning of Binghamton University’s Department of Social Work.

In light of the Department of Social Work’s current unethical treatment of one of their students, Andre Massena, I feel that it is imperative that the University investigate the actions of the Department of Social Work faculty and staff in regard to their unethical treatment of students and take corrective action before any more students are hurt. This is also necessary to avoid the continuation of the programs growing negative reputation among practitioners in the community as this negative reputation harmfully impacts current and former students. I have actually been told by various agency representatives in the community that they prefer not to hire students they are not familiar with who have graduated from BU due to the poor reputation of BU’s MSW program.

Although the most talented faculty members have either left or have been fired, there are still a couple of talented faculty members currently teaching in the MSW program. Once corrective actions are taken, the Department of Social Work has the potential to become a strong, competitive academic program. Without swift corrective action, I fear that the program might fall apart leading to it eventually loosing it’s accreditation from the Council on Social Work Education (CWSE). The disbanding of the Department of Social Work would be a great loss to the Greater Binghamton Community however; the department’s current oppressive and unjust functioning is hurting students which in turn hurts the Greater Binghamton Community.

I greatly appreciate the time that you took to read this letter and hope that it is helpful in correcting the unfortunate state that the MSW program is in. I apologize for not signing this letter due to needing to remain anonymous. It is my hope that in the near future I can discuss the injustices that students, including myself, have suffered at the hands of the Binghamton University Department of Social Work without fear of retribution.
Thank you for your time and your concern.