Take These Keys and…
Earlier today I was forwarded a statement by the Grand Aleph Godol and International N’siah regarding some of the policy changes. I wanted to reflect on one of them:
2. MYTH: Upon arrival at the house for an overnight, the owner of the house will confiscate all keys for the duration of the evening.
FACT: The adult supervisors at a Chapter overnight will collect and hold the car keys of all participants who drive to the event. This makes sense, since our policy has always stated that leaving an event and returning is prohibited, so there is no reason to have your keys.
This sounds so innocent and reasonable. Yet it is problematic on a number of levels. It’s like the argument that might be made by a truly right-wing prosecutor: if you are not a criminal, surely you would have no problem with the police searching your house without cause, right?
BBYO does have a longstanding policy about leaving an event and returning, and it is a very good policy for numerous reasons that I won’t go into now. So why would it matter if the adult supervisors take your keys?
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