SE Revoking Membership's

[fotoscout]

We seem to have  Scout Executive who's first salvo in any disagreement with a volunteer is to threaten the volunteers' membership with revocation.  Does anyone have experience with this? I'm not looking for information on revoking a volunteers membership. I am looking for experience with what appears to be an out of control Scout Executive. It seems that he has done this multiple times that I am aware of. I cannot begin to imagine how many times he has done this that I am not aware of. 

Thanks for your help.

[The Latin Scot]

I have never heard of this kind of extremism in a SE before, but it sounds like it's already pretty out of control. He has no right to make that threat, let alone carry it out. I would recommend possibly writing a letter of concern to the higher-up powers in your area carefully alerting them to the situation (in precise but measured tones) and asking how you can help rectify it.

[Eagle94-A1]

Is the SE’s name Jack Crawford by any chance? Yes, I’ve encountered a SE and DFS who had a long time volunteer’s membership permanently revoked. I do not know all the details, but apparently the volunteer found out the council did not have insurance for an event. Accident happened, and there was no coverage. Because the accident was a violation of G2SS, riding in back of truck, volunteer was removed when he made a stink of not having insurance for the event.

[robert12]

The two people to contact would be your council's president, though your SE could have been the one to basically put him in this position,  and the Area Director that your SE reports to, this is a BSA national position.

[SSF]

It's my understanding that the BSA has for many, many years embraced the belief that the best way to get rid of criticism (at least from within the BSA) has been to simply get rid of the critic.

There is strength in numbers though, so if you can rally and gain the support of others who are willing to stand up to this SE, then that will speak volumes. He will not be able to dismiss that many voices against him. 

Edited October 31, 2018 by SSF

[David CO]

9 hours ago, fotoscout said:

We seem to have  Scout Executive who's first salvo in any disagreement with a volunteer is to threaten the volunteers' membership with revocation.  Does anyone have experience with this? 

Yes. It is not a new thing.

I've seen a SE threaten to revoke the membership of a COR because the COR wouldn't vote the way the SE wanted at council meetings.

 

[Eagle94-A1]

TIMELY! I just found out a respected Scouter at the unit and district level had their membership revoked because they disagreed with how the council was handling a YP issue. They called the national hotline to discuss the matter. SE found out and revoked their membership.  I have a feeling the SE will have a huge amount of egg on their face when everything settles.

[WAKWIB]

@fotoscout
You need to communicate your concerns to the Council President.  If you personally know him or any member of the Council's Executive Committee, that would be helpful, but that may not be the case. Your Council's website should have a page showing who the members of the Exec. Committee are and you should be able to track one or two of them down to express your concerns. The SE is not a dictator for life. He can be removed by the Council Pres. and Exec. Committee at any time and for any variety of reasons. What you are sharing here, seems like a very good reason to remove this man from his position.  

[SSScout]

Yes, the BSA good ol' boys network sometimes is an embarrassment.  I am reminded of some past events. Do we remember Owasippe?  This Scout Reservation in Michigan became the unwarranted center of discussion some years back. Chicago Council started selling off camps and other property , a Scouter raised flags, garnered support, National got into the fray and lots of bad PR erupted.   Somebody wanted the money somewhere.... We have lots of back and forth here on Scouter dot com, you can research it.  

Then we have the recent New England, Cape Cod Camp brou haha. Same issue. Let's sell off the Scout camp (money for the Council?  Any commissions there? )

And on a personal level, I served as a Chaplain (approved by my faith committee) at the Nat Jam in 2005,  when I applied again in 2010,  (one has to be approved as "Staff" by your local Council and National and in my case by the Faith Committee), I was denied Staff status. When I inquired, it took multiple phone calls and emails to reach a sympathetic Irving person who revealed to me that my local Council had denied my application. Why? he couldn't say. Council person said "it's a confidential matter" .  But I am the topic of this confidentiality?  Doesn't matter, we can't /won't discuss it.  When I asked the National Person again, he read off the vetting record from Council and said, "It looks like you made a enemy in your Council. "  I elicited and National and Council received over 20 letters of recommendation from Scout and employer and faith folks, attesting to my personal qualities, but National and the Council contacts both said they could not (would not ) rescind the judgement.  Come 2013 Jambo, I again applied (approved by my faith committee, included many letters of recommendation) and discovered the vetting process had been changed.  No problem this time.  Why the difference?  No one would say.  

Personal opinion and "good ol' Scouter"  network?  Possible money involvement?  Who can say.   The light of day is important in many of these cases.  No Scouter who follows the Scout Promise and Law should have to operate in fear of his or her  good name  being besmirched for only an opinion.  Seek out the facts. Shine light on the event. 

See you on the trail.