To the Journal editor:

The Flint Water Crisis has been an unanticipated and unfortunate teaching moment for professors like myself who educate BSW level social work students about the connection between policy and practice.

My senior SW440 Social Work Policy Analysis class recently undertook the important task of writing to Governor Snyder about the Flint situation. I am proud of them for taking action to uphold the profession’s core values of social justice, valuing the dignity and worth of all people, and advocating on behalf of vulnerable populations.

The following is what they wrote:

We are writing to you collectively as part of our senior SW440 Social Work Policy Analysis class at Northern Michigan University about the Flint Water Crisis. This is the final policy class which bridges social work practice with policy, especially policy that advocates on behalf of vulnerable populations. We are asking you specifically to do the following in order to protect the health and well-being of residents of Flint.

First, we request that you forgive their water bills until the water is absolutely safe to use. Citizens of Flint are entitled to water that does not harm them. They have suffered for long enough at the hands of incompetent local and state officials – this failure is unconscionable.

Second we request that your administration earnestly review the direction it has taken to “save” the state money by limiting the responsibilities of government. Less government and a move towards privatization schemes have cost Michiganders, especially those of Flint, their health, mental health, and potentially their long-term ability to be productive members of our state. They have been robbed of their basic human rights. Our recommendations require your immediate attention to provide crucial social justice remedies for the citizens of Flint.

When you took your second oath of public office on Jan. 1, 2015, you stated: “It is time to reevaluate state services and do it a smarter way. It’s not about taking citizens and hard-working people, and slicing and dicing you into multiple programs. It’s about recognizing that you’re a human, you’re a person, and you should be treated that way. So let’s reevaluate the entire way that government supports people in terms of services. It is time that you’re treated as a whole person with respect.”

Your administration’s “great experiment” has woefully failed the citizens of our state.

Patricia K. Cianciolo, Ph.D.,

Professor, Northern Michigan University,

Social Work Department