[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E959-E960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK CENTENNIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NITA M. LOWEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 22, 1998

  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I hereby offer congratulations to the 
Columbia University School of Social Work, the oldest social work 
training program in the nation, on the occasion of its Centennial. From 
its beginnings as a summer program organized by the Charity 
Organization Society of New York, the School of Social Work has had a 
long and distinguished history of pioneering research, informed 
advocacy and exceptional professional training.
  Social workers have played key roles in every major social reform 
movement that has taken place in our nation--from settlement houses to 
labor reform, to the New Deal, to civil rights and voter registration. 
Many of the laws we take for granted today--Social Security, child 
labor restrictions, the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, Medicare--
came about because social workers saw injustice and helped to inspire 
the country to take action.
  Throughout the 20th century, Columbia's faculty, students and alumni 
have worked tirelessly to address both the causes and symptoms of our 
most pressing social problems. National movements, such as the White 
House Conference on Children and the National Urban League, have 
emerged from projects undertaken by the School's faculty and 
administration in cooperation with professional and community 
organizations. The entire nation has benefited from the work of people 
like Eveline Burns (Social Security); Mitchell I. Ginsberg (Head 
Start); Richard Cloward (welfare rights and voter registration); Alfred

[[Page E960]]

Kahn and Sheila B. Kamerman (cross-national studies of social services) 
and David Fanshel (children in foster care).
  As Columbia University School of Social Work, and the social work 
profession as a whole move into their second centuries, they will be 
challenged to respond to ongoing social changes and new social 
problems. Now more than ever, we will need well-trained and dedicated 
social workers to work with troubled children and families, organize 
communities for change, conduct cutting edge research, administer 
social programs, and alleviate society's most intractable problems.
  It is with appreciation and admiration that I extend my best wishes 
to the Columbia University School of Social Work on its Centennial and 
look forward to its future achievements.

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