BYU students protest end to program

PROVO — All Marc Gilchrist wants for his birthday is a Bachelor of Social Work program at Brigham Young University — and for BYU administrators to listen to the students' plea to reinstate the program.

Gilchrist, 30, of Orem, a first-year student in BYU's Master of Social Work program, spent Friday, his 30th birthday, in a 24-hour protest to make a point: He and other students value the BSW program and want it to remain intact.

"Here I am, on my birthday," Gilchrist said. "But sometimes you have to do what you need to do."

Gilchrist and five other students camped out on the grass at the corner of University Avenue and University Parkway, just off BYU campus in Provo. They began at 9 p.m. Thursday and said they would end at 9 p.m. Friday.

David Magleby, BYU dean of the College of Family Home and Social Sciences, says Gilchrist will definitely get half his birthday wish.

"Yes, we have listened to the students. There have been multiple opportunities to comment with me and others," Magleby said.

But will BYU officials change their mind about axing the BSW program?

"No," Magleby said. "We will not reinstate the Bachelor of Social Work program in the near future — the next several years."

Magleby said the primary purpose of eliminating the BSW program was to improve the Master of Social Work program. BYU also aims to strengthen the three graduate clinical programs in the college: psychology, marriage and family therapy and social work, Magleby said.

Further, BYU is concerned about an insufficient number of potential social work faculty. Because of the limited pool of faculty, BYU has been worried about accreditation of its BSW and MSW programs, he said.

BYU Academic Vice President John Tanner wrote a letter dated Thursday to the students, stating: "The central administration is united in supporting the decision to phase out our Bachelor of Social Work degree and strengthen our Master of Social Work degree. This decision is not up for reconsideration."

Magleby announced the university's decision and outlined explanations to the students in October.

The students staged a 50-person off-campus protest in November. They had a press conference with agency officials speaking in December.