Accreditation Without Accountability

On May 13, 2026 Do No Harm, a healthcare education advocacy group, sent an open letter to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the national accrediting agency for social work education programs, demanding the removal of all DEI requirements from its accreditation standards. The letter, which cited specific DEI mandates imposed by CSWE, argued these requirements are ideologically divisive, and pointed to President Trump’s April 2025 executive order on accreditation reform, along with federal anti-discrimination law, as grounds for compliance. CSWE refused. Dr. Halaevalu Vakalahi, the CSWE’s president and CEO, argued the executive order does not apply to her...