Despite controversy with national Scouting office, local troops are unimpacted

Darrion Chen, Senior Reporter

A group of young, uniformed Boy Scouts stand at attention, saluting as two fellow scouts march the American and troop flags onto the stage. After the flag ceremony, the scouts split off into patrol groups and plan for their upcoming camping trip.

Based at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Burlingame, Troop 28 has existed since 1952.

“Troop 28 provides kids in our community an opportunity to meet other kids who have a passion for the outdoors,” said Senior Patrol Leader Justin Tian-Smith, a sophomore at Lick-Wilmerding High School. “Our troop also has a role in serving the community by doing various service projects.”

Recent troop outings have included camping and backpacking trips and even a canoeing trip.

“The most exciting trip I have done with Troop 28 was going on a seven-day canoe trip in the Minnesota Boundary Waters,” Tian-Smith said. “We learned all sorts of skills such as fishing, orienteering, canoeing in a straight line and purifying water. My favorite part about scouting is being able to go on fun trips with friends and embrace the outdoors together.”

However, the national organization of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been finding itself in hot water over the past couple years as a result of financial troubles due to their drastic policy changes and sexual abuse controversy.

After coming under pressure from civil rights activists for their policy of exclusion against homosexuals, the BSA lifted the ban on homosexuals in 2013.

Recently, BSA has also revised their policy to welcome girls into the youth program, although female adult leaders were already in the program, and girls have been informally in Cub Scouts for years. Following the drastic policy change, the first girls officially joined the Scouting program on Feb 1, 2019. Within the next 16 months, there will be female Eagle Scouts.

“The programs has fostered youth and character development for 100 years”, Troop 28 parent and leader Ron Chang said. “And character development is better when everyone is in the program. It’s about time that everyone is allowed to join.”

Despite the national policy change to permit girls into the program, the national office’s decision is not a mandate to allow girls to join the program.

“Since scouting is volunteer and sponsor-run, it is ultimately up to the each troop’s leaders and sponsors to decide,” Chang said. “Currently, our sponsor, Saint Paul’s Church, is not yet ready to let girls join since it would mean restructuring most of our program.”

Even though the admittance of girls is ultimately each troop’s decision, the policy change of admitting girls has come under fire by the BSA’s mostly conservative supporter base. For example, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which charters about 36 percent of BSA units, making it the largest supplier of scouts of the BSA, has sworn to dissolve its ties and support of the Scouting organization by the end of 2019.

“Originally back in 1912, Mormon values were the same as BSA’s,” Chang said. “Now, [BSA’s] values have shifted as they expand into the world; [mormons] want to run their own program now since the BSA doesn’t fit them anymore.”

Even with the national Scouting office in dire straits, Troop 28 would remain unimpacted, since the troop is self-sustaining financially.

“Like most troops in the country, Troop 28 is parent-funded. Annual dues go to national office, but no money comes back down,” Chang said. “We buy all our own equipment and each scouting districts runs their own campsites locally.”

Separately from their decision to include girls, BSA has also come under scrutiny for sexual abuse and cover-up allegations and lawsuits. The BSA’s Youth Protection Program (YPP), which is regarded by sexual abuse experts as “one of the best sex abuse education programs in the country” according to the Washington Times, was conceived after similar controversies in the 1990s. The protection program includes youth safety rules which, for example, mandate there must always be at least two adult leaders supervising youth scouts, and that adults and youths are not allowed to share tents unless they are family.

“Scouting’s Youth Protection Program is very good,” Chang reiterated. “It’s so good, other organizations copy it.”

Despite YPP’s strength, recent allegations include incidents ranging from the 1960s to as recent as 2006. BSA is even considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would give the national office more time to restructure its finances and deal with the multiple sexual abuse lawsuits. But due to Scouting’s local-oriented troop organization, bankruptcy would likely not impact troops.

No allegations include local Peninsula troops.

“The sexual abuse being reported is obviously horrible and needs to be fixed,” Tian-Smith said. “However, I don’t think it should overshadow all the other awesome things the organization provides for kids like myself.”