The University of Houston suddenly removed its dean of social work last month. The university has said it did so to better align the Graduate College of Social Work with broader institutional priorities. The former dean, Alan Dettlaff—who is returning to the social work faculty, for now—says his views on racial justice got him fired.

“I’ve said many times, one of the things I’m most proud as dean is that we were focused as a school on racial justice before summer 2020, when a lot of people started to come on board and develop programming and messaging around that—we’ve been focused on that for a long time,” Dettlaff told Inside Higher Ed of the college’s orientation during his seven-year tenure.

Dettlaff did start to focus more on abolition—of the police and of the child welfare system—more in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, however. This, he said, became controversial among the school’s senior faculty, eventually leading to his ouster by an interim provost.

Most Popular

Robert H. McPherson, the interim provost, said in a college memo that “Dettlaff is returning to faculty to continue his own important scholarly work, which focuses on racial disparities, improving outcomes for LGBTQ youth and addressing the unique needs of immigrant families.”

Calling Dettlaff a “well-respected thought leader in his field,” McPherson wrote that he’d initiated the change in leadership to “better align the college with the university’s academic priorities, which include growing...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmluc2lkZWhpZ...