Do we practice what we preach?: Exclusionary LGBTQ+ policy at religiously-affiliated institutions of higher education with CSWE-accredited social work programs

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has a longstanding practice of accrediting social work programs nestled within institutions of higher education that openly discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) faculty, staff, and students through harmful policies and procedures. Though these policies and procedures contradict the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, these institutions are deemed religiously exempt. In an effort to understand the breadth of this issue, this paper describes a qualitative study examining the presence and substance of LGBTQ+ discriminatory policies at religiously affiliated institutions of higher learning (N = 190) that contain CSWE accredited social work degree programs. Utilizing content analysis, 101 discriminatory excerpts were identified within the 299 publicly available student and/or faculty handbooks, representing 40% of the institutions. Excerpts were coded into three distinct categories: belief expression (66.3%), belief expression and offer of formalized religious or spiritual support (13.9%), and belief expression with punishment (19.8%). In order to attempt to increase trustworthiness, the researchers used coder triangulation, intercoder reliability, and researcher reflexivity. Implications for social work hiring, policy advocacy, education, accreditation, and research are discussed, highlighting the direct conflict between the profession’s standards and values and current accreditation practices.