Complicity is not an Option: Pushing Back on Harmful Federal Policies

By Mia Ocean and Debbie Raucher

Viewpoints

As we barrel into the Trump administration’s second term, people are being harmed and threatened with harm. Courageous, intelligent, and empathetic people, however, are fighting back by raising their voices, challenging unconstitutional executive orders, and developing strategies to resist harmful policies, knowing that complicity is not an option.

While the new administration has made clear its desire to eradicate all attempts to create a more just and equitable United States, examples exist of how local action can ameliorate the harm federal policies cause. One example of this is Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policies that govern access to federal financial aid, requiring students to meet academic worthiness criteria (e.g., minimum GPA and course completion rate) to receive financial aid.

These policies have been shown to have a detrimental and disparate impact on students who face the most challenges when pursuing higher education, such as youth with experience in foster care, students of color, students with disabilities, and students pursuing postsecondary education as a pathway out of poverty. While federal law provides significant flexibility to institutions, many colleges and universities do not leverage this flexibility to help as many students as possible maintain aid.

It would have been easy to throw up our hands and say, “It’s just the way it is.” But this inaction would have rendered us complicit.

Use of States’ Rights

Over the years, we have challenged SAP policies by systematically documenting their impact, advocating to eliminate them as a barrier, and educating students how to navigate their institution’s SAP criteria and appeal process to regain access to aid.

Debbie, along with her team at John Burton Advocates for Youth and a broader student equity coalition, have taken this one step further through state legislation, specifically Assembly Bill 789. This California law stipulates all postsecondary institutions participating in state financial aid (approximately 362 institutions serving over 2.5 million students) must apply the most generous SAP gatekeeping standards and offer the most expansive appeal processes possible. This includes allowing appeals for circumstances such as being a victim of interpersonal violence, behavioral health challenges, and the loss of childcare or transportation. The law also calls for limiting documentation requirements.

This legislation recalibrates norms so that student needs are centered to the greatest extent allowed by the federal code. While federal law continues to govern access to federal financial aid, this creative use of states’ rights reduces the harm this policy causes. This was a win to be sure, and the need for additional research and advocacy to expand access to financial aid continues.

We invite you to join the movement to reform financial aid implementation in your state and to eradicate this policy at the federal level, but the real takeaway from this story is bigger than a singular policy. There are ways to be proactive in our current political climate.

Work for Communities

As social workers, we seek to protect people not systems. By partnering with allies to maximize power, information, and resources, we can enhance our communities to benefit our communities. We offer lessons learned from our work for your consideration in this precarious moment.

• Treat policies and procedures with skepticism. Critically evaluate directives. Read original policy language to differentiate deeply entrenched practice from immutable policy.
• Prioritize transparency with clients. Assume people seeking help are well-intentioned and share the hidden strategies for navigating imperfect and inequitable systems. Social workers must seek to challenge social injustice, not reinforce it.
• Capitalize on structural weaknesses. Social workers often understand systems better than anyone. Use your professional insights to exploit structural shortcomings to the advantage of the communities you serve.
• Use destabilization to the client’s advantage. If policies are in flux or unclear, use the version that prioritizes clients.
• Think beyond the present moment. Time can lend perspective. Consider how you will feel 10 years from now when you reflect on your choices today.
• Elevate real-life experiences. Transmit the stories that you hear about the impact of policies to both advocates and policymakers, and be a voice for change.

To be clear, people are being demonized and dehumanized; families are being ripped apart by deportation; funding to address racial inequities is being eliminated; and people’s identities are being erased.

Progress is not always linear, and implementing these recommendations is in no way a panacea for every horror to come. This is simply a reminder that we can enact social justice every day in big and small ways—and for social workers, complicity is not an option.

Mia Ocean, PhD, LSCSW, is an associate professor at the Wichita State University School of Social Work and a former financial aid recipient.

Debbie Raucher, MSW, is an independent consultant and former chief program officer of John Burton Advocates for Youth.