Professor included in Boy Scouts blacklist

A Pitt professor in the Graduate School of Public Health is among 5,000 individuals named on a sexual predator blacklist put together by the Boy Scouts of America.

The Boy Scouts blacklisted Rodger L. Beatty in the organization’s “perversion files” after accusations of Beatty sexually molesting five members of Troop 222 — ranging in age from 13 to 14 — surfaced in 1976. In these files, the Scouts organization compiled names of the accused persons between 1947 and January 2005.

Beatty, 66, is recovering from a stroke and subsequent coma suffered in late September. With the reports coming in, his family asked family friend and fellow professor, David Korman, to speak on Beatty’s behalf.

Korman directed questions to Shayla Anthony, a relative of Beatty. She said that he is now awake, but not able to communicate.

“Rodger is slowly recovering,” Anthony said. “We’re hoping to get a second side of the story soon.”

The file was made public by Portland, Ore., attorney Kelly Clark, who used the files in a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts. A judge deemed the files proper evidence.

The Boy Scouts released a statement that said, “the files are a list of people who do not meet the BSA’s membership standards because of known or suspected abuse or other inappropriate conduct either inside or outside of scouting.”

Despite concealing the lists until this point, Wayne Perry, the organization’s national president, admitted that sexually inappropriate acts did take place and were not properly handled by the Scouts.

“Where those involved in scouting failed to protect, or worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest and sincere apologies to victims and their families,” Perry said in a statement released from the Scouts.

Even though one-third of the incidents go unreported, the organization still finds the lists useful. Many blacklisted members were accused of pedophilic acts in more troops than just their own.

Since then, a statement released from the Scouts assures that national scout leaders prohibit scoutmasters from being alone with a scout, and that the Boy Scouts of America have implemented stricter policies than those that were in place in the 1980s.

The press release listed the current policies, which require any suspicion of abuse to be reported and background checks and screenings for all adults involved in the organization.

One of the accused who went under the radar was Beatty — at the time a drug and alcohol abuse counselor — who victims allege picked up and left town after the victims gave detailed, written statements to the troop.

Beatty picked back up again by working for the state Department of Health beginning in 1978 and helping found an AIDS assistance group in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1982, according to his biography on Pitt’s website.

Beatty received a master’s degree in social work from Penn State in 1983 and a doctorate from Pitt in 1997. He settled in Pittsburgh as a Pitt social worker and AIDS researcher. He was known as an activist among the LGBTQ community.

Anthony said she wishes to give more information, but said that only the silent Beatty has the answers.

“The only person that can tell you more, can’t,” Anthony said.

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to reflect the correct school affiliation of Rodger L. Beatty. He is not a social work professor.