The Slow Death of Boy Scouts Financial troubles and lawsuits mark an uncertain future for the American institution CHARLES BOEHME
S
couts BSA, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amidst mounting legal cases of sexual abuse. The bankruptcy comes after years of declining membership and an income drought. Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow Scouts BSA to restructure while also being able to avoid all legal cases and debts. On a local level, scouting will continue as councils and units operate independently from the national organization In recent years, Scouts BSA has gained attention for allowing members of the LGBTQ community and women to become scouts. Both these changes came after years of campaigning by the relevant groups to open up membership. This move was not met without pushback though, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which made up 20% of all registered scouts, announced they would be cutting ties with Scouts BSA and forming their own alternative scouting based organization. Local Eagle Scout Jerrid Rolfe (12) offered his opinion on allowing women and LGBTQ people to join BSA. “I support it. I think that Scouts is a great organization that has a lot to offer, and I get why people would be hesitant to allow those types of people in Boy Scouts but I think that it is a great organization that has something to offer to everyone,” Rolfe said. Lawsuits first materialized after eight states and the District of Columbia passed “revival” laws. These laws create a brief period in which sexual abuse cases that had reached the end of their statute of limitations could be filed, including both criminal and civil cases. Shortly after the passing of these laws, Philadelphia lawyer Stewart Eisenburg formed the legal consulting organization Abused in Scouting and has said that over 800 men have contacted him planning on suing Scouts BSA.
16
News
3.23.20
Staff Writer
In 2012, Scouts BSA was forced by court order to release over 14,000 pages of documents detailing sexual abuse dating from 1965 to 1985. These documents, nicknamed the “perversion files” were used by Scouts BSA to remove and prevent the reentry of abusers, yet a third of the cases were never reported to police. The files also show that Scouts BSA never informed the parents of those abused, at times actively working with police to silence allegations. Scouts BSA has refused to release documents compiled after 1985 and are currently in the process of appealing court orders to do such. An official apology has been issued by Scouts BSA and they have encouraged others who have been abused in the past to come forward. But seeming resistance towards further probing into the organizations records in the form of lengthy legal appeals and recent restructuring attempts have cast doubts on how transparent they are actually being. “In scouting, I think there needs to be major restructuring of the organization to eliminate this problem,” said Andrew Crutcher (12), a scout since first grade. Lindbergh has numerous scout troops it sponsors, among those being troops 580, 721 & 25. Many students in the Lindbergh district are currently or were at one time members of scouts. Both Crutcher and Rolfe expressed sadness by the recent news. “I think it’s a real shame. Since scouts is a localized organization what you get depends a lot on who you are local leaders are. I’ve had pretty strong leaders when I was in scouts and that led to a lot of positive things for me but I think it’s a shame there have been so many cases throughout the nation that have been popping up recently,” Rolfe said.
