Alverno College in Milwaukee is launching a new master’s degree in social work this fall.
But there is something different about the program: It uses an abolitionist lens. That means it imagines a world beyond prison, police and surveillance. Social workers often serve as part of those punitive systems — so thinking beyond them can be challenging.
"What we do is that we rely on prisons, policing and surveillance to punish people," says Alverno MSW director Cameron Overton, who is overseeing the creation of the new degree program. "And we think that by punishing people, they will stop bad behavior. And that's not true ... And I think social work specifically has been recruited into that system."
Overton says his program will teach students to think beyond the current systems. They may still end up working in child welfare or in prisons, but he hopes they'll be a different kind of social worker.
"I hope that my social workers are asking the question 'Why?'" Overton says. "It is not taught typically to have a critical analysis of power ... I hope when they go into the work they do, they're finding ways to push against the systems."
Overton says he got into social work because he wanted to help people. But when he started working in child welfare, he felt that he was contributing to harm, rather than helping people.
Alverno undergraduate student Celestina Hertz, 20, plans to enroll in the Abolitionist MSW program after she earns her bachelor's degree.
"I am hoping to learn how to change systems," Hertz says. "I want to learn my power and learn the kinks in the system that I can wiggle in, break apart, and reconstruct."
The fully online, 2-year program is still in the process of becoming accredited. It starts in fall 2023 and will offer courses including: Systems of Oppression, Organizing for Change, The War on Drugs: The Criminalization of Addiction and Substance Use, and Trauma Healing Interventions.
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