Mokgamen

To clarify what I posted previously: Revocation of BSA membership is not necessarily for "life" as there is no provision as such in the Procedures for Maintaining Standards of Leadership. I do not know of any instance by which a legally convicted pedophile has even been reinstated by the BSA. I do know of a situation in which a person reasonably suspected of being a pedophile has had his membership revoked, but was reinstated later when the accusation proved unsubstantiated and retracted. Revocation of membership does not rely on a court of law determining the facts, but upon a council Scout executive making a judgement upon the information available at a date in time. That is why review committees are in place, to correct any miscarriage in the process.

Dear friends, I have read through this thread, and believe with 36 years in Scouting and 20 years as a professional, that I must challenge a couple of statements made by one or more of the previous folks. One is that rarely do any of us know all of the facts of a situation. If a council Scout executive becomes aware of some facts (or at least corroborated statements) warranting membership revocation, he/she may remove a member on behalf of the National Council. There is a detailed pamphlet called "Procedures for Maintaining Standards of Leadership" which has been in use for over 20 years, and has been carefully edited to cover most serious situations. Quite a bit of written documentation is required when the National Council removes an individual from the BSA. In order to protect people from retribution, the executive does not normally disclose all information to aggrevied parties, and to my knowledge, aggrevied parties have no legal right to "all the information". Membership is a privilege, not a legal right. However, an individual has the right to a review of the decision by three impartial regional volunteers (none of whom are part of the affected council), who review all of the documentation submitted by the Scout executive to the National Council. If there is any reasonable doubt as to the facts, the committee may interview any party to the facts to determine what the truth is. If a Scout executive acted too hastily, or in error, or before relevant facts later became known, the regional committee has in some instances restored the individual to membership. This has happened several times, although in the great majority of cases, the regional committee sustains the judgement of the council Scout executive. The other thing that needs to be said is that there is no official "removal for life" (although for serious pedophiles, that is practically the effect). People who have changed over time and demonstrated improvement in character have been reinstated.

The uniform shirt should have a position of responsibility emblem ("leader patch"), colored shoulder loops, and "Trained" emblem that all correlate. To use an example of a leader who uses "Velcro" to change his position emblem from Asst. Scoutmaster to Unit Commissioner, she/he would change to loops from red to silver. The trained emblem might go on or off, depending on whether she/he had completed training for that position. There is one district/council position registered through the unit(s), which is the chartered organization rep. If the chartered org. rep. is wearing the COR emblem, then it goes with silver loops. Paid vs. multiple registration is no longer relevant to uniforming (the old rule about only one color of loops showing the primary position only was discarded a few years ago). If you are doing enough Scouting to have two separate adult positions of responsibility (two different units, or a unit and district role), you might find it works better to have two shirts to display the emblems that work best for each role. A unit commissioner, for example, should earn and wear the Arrowhead recognition, but should not wear a unit number with the commissioner emblem. Charles Howard-Gibbon Field Director, 20 year professional 36 years total including Scouts and adult service

When councils were switched to the ScoutNet system in 1999, most local councils began to produce a membership card for each registered position (including multiples), so in many cases, people are now receiving membership cards for all of their registered roles. Scouters are encouraged to wear the correct uniform for each position in which they are active. Separate shirts, or switching emblems using velcro--both are common. The loop colors and trained emblem should match the leadership position patch being worn. Unit numbers should not be worn on uniform shirts for district and council positions (except the chartered organization rep., the one position that wears silver loops and the chartered org. unit number, a very unique role as a member of the council and the liason to all units within his chartered organization). Although there is no limit to the number of positions an individual can hold, practically an individual can only do a few positions well. There is a big difference between a Scouter who is registered as pack, troop, team, and crew committee chair (because the chartered org. uses one committee to supervise all 4 units), and a person trying to be a good unit commissioner and also a Scoutmaster of a troop (two roles which each involve more time commitment that a troop committee chair). A unit commissioner who does a good job visiting and serving 2-4 units, who has enough drive and energy to also serve on a district committee could be also registered as a district-member-at-large. Those are two very different roles (commissioners are appointed, district members-at-large are elected annually). And maybe the person is also a merit badge counselor. Mr. Steele points out something very important about where you pay your primary registration--your Scouting magazine inserts are directed at your primary position. A paid-registered unit commissioner will get inserts for both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting.