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Fayetteville, NC
Vol. XXXIV, No. 12
Tuesday, April 15, 1997
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College students in crisis
may be vulnerable to cults
By Adolfo Mendez
The College Press Service
After 12 years of being in a
cult, Lisa Caroll left the group to ob
tain a master’s degree in sociology.
“1 wanted to find out why 1
went in,” said Caroll, who now works
in public relations for a southern Cali
fornia college.
Caroll joined when she was
18, while she was a freshman in col
lege.
The death of her mother that
same year drove her into involvement
with the cult. “That’s usually when
people get involved in cults and main
stream religion. It’s the feeling of
emptiness,” she says.
Concerned for her safety,
Caroll prefers not to reveal the cult’s
identity. “It’d be too dangerous,” she
said. “You have to understand their
mindset.”
It’s the same mindset that
drove the Heaven’s Gate cult to com
mit mass suicide in San Diego. “I
would have done anything to protect
the leader of the group. 1 believed that
she was God,” Caroll said of her
group, not tied to Heaven’s Gate.
“1 had dreams about throw
ing myself in front of a bullet to pro
tect her. The group that 1 was with is
still active. They will do anything to
protect this person,” she said.
The initial comfort she felt
in the group gave way to feelings of
disillusionment when she discovered
she was discouraged from asking “too
many questions.”
“1 was excommunicated be
cause 1 stood up one day and asked
some questions,” she said.
College students often are
drawn into cults because the groups
“mix truth with lies. If is was just one
big lie, it would be easy,” she said.
While it’s normal to feel
homesick while being away from
home, not all students know how to
cope with their feelings, Caroll said.
Some, as a result, join cults, who fill
the need for family, she said.
Estimates on the number of
active cults in America range any
where from 3,000 to 5,000, depending
on the source. Numbers for college stu
dent involvement are more difficult to
come by, given the secrecy of such
groups. But author M. Rudin, who
wrote Culls on Campus: Continuing
Challenge, notes that more than half of
new cult members are between the ages
of 18 and 24.
Cult recruiters find college stu
dents attractive targets because often
students desire to “better the world, to
improve themselves, or to feel closer to
God,” said D.H. Blunt, author of Cults
on Campus: Awareness is Key.
Yet while mainstream religious
organizations have a mission of enhanc
ing the spiritual development of mem
bers, cults, on the other hand, have self-
preservation as a main goal and often
use deceptive recruitment and conver
sion techniques, said Rudin.
Cult experts say that research
into cults reveals some common themes
in such groups;
1. Mind control. Many
groups discourage members from read
ing material other than that produced
by the cult. They discourage television
and newspaper reading. The reason this
works, says Caroll, is because they la
bel such sources as being part of the
“dark side.”
2. Cutting family ties. “With
lots of groups, they’ll tell you your fam
ily is unenlightened,” Caroll said. “Once
you’re out of your support system, you
become more dependent on them.”
3. Denial of reality. Some
times, reality becomes distorted by date-
setting, says Larry A. Trachte, a pro
fessor at Wartburg College in Waverly,
Iowa. Trachte, who has taught a course
titled “Religious Cults” since 1979,
expects a rise in the start of a millenialist
fervor as the year 2000 approaches.
The Heaven’s Gate cult be
lieved a spaceship was traveling behind
the Hale-Bopp comet, a belief with no
basis in scientific fact.
For college students, denial
can manifest itself in more day-to-day
tasks. “They tell you [not to] worry
about the stress in school. All the stress
you’re under doesn’t matter, because
school really doesn’t matter,” Caroll
said.
Still, colleges expose stu
dents to a world of ideas—ideas
which threaten a group’s grip on
members. Some groups, therefore,
try to persuade young followers to
drop out, Caroll said.
However, not everyone be
lieves college students are prime tar
gets for cult groups.
Erling Jorstad, professor
emeritus at St. Olaf College in
Northfield, Minn., has studied
groups like the Unification Church
and smaller groups like The Way In
ternational and says today’s college
students aren’t in any real danger.
“Today’s collegians are not
very vulnerable to cult appeal,”
Jorstad said. “During the 1970s with
the counterculture and the anti-Viet-
nam war sentiment, cults had a
strong appeal to the idealistic ‘let’s
make the world a better place’ col
legians. Or, cults offered a haven; a
safe place away from the pressures
of social activist involvement.”
But in 1997, social activ
ism is dead, he says. “This Genera
tion X with its postmodernist out
look has little or no interest in such
change. Their cynicism mirrors that
of the older generation, with little
interest in organized politics, orga
nized religion, or formal educational
pursuits.”
While Jorstad acknowl
edges that there are some exceptions,
he says today’s collegians are more
drawn to self-discovery and indi
vidual expression than to social ac
tivism. “If this sounds pessimistic, it’s
because the mood swing for this gen
eration has been that profound since
the 1970s,” he said.
But experience coupled
with research Caroll did for her
master’s thesis lead her to think oth
erwise.
“It’s just a statement in our
society that people are so empty right
now. Until that is solved, these
groups are only going to proliferate,”
she said.
“Senioritis” sets in...
The College Press Service
Every day, Christy McBride
tosses aside her books and dreams
about her summer plans to lie on
Aruba’s sunwashed beaches.
McBride, a University of
Missouri senior, wonders how she’ll
make it through another month of
journalism classes until she dons a cap
and gown for graduation. Not to men
tion, she still needs to polish her re
sume and line up a job for the fall.
But it seems a certain afflic
tion is making it...well, hard to focus.
The affliction is so common among
graduating students, it’s earned a
name—senioritis.
“Senioritis is when the brain
is nowhere but on the glorious day
outside, the future ahead, not on what
needs to be done here and now,” she
said with a sigh.
With spring break over and
the countdown to graduation on, a
number of seniors complain that a
particular lethargy has taken over their
bodies. As the simultaneously antici
pate and dread the final curtain on
college, they report that senioritis
makes it a challenge to keep their
minds on anything important.
For Beth Taylor, a Miami
University of Ohio senior, it’s even
toughter to get through classes until
graduation because she already has a
job lined up at Bank One in Louis
ville, Ky.
“Now that I have a job, I
don’t feel like studying,” she said. “1
just want to go out, to work out, and
sleep.”
Kristy Miller, a Stetson Uni
versity senior, said she heard the call
of graduation earlier this year and
started going out every night. “You
just cease caring about everything—
from grades to classes,” she said. “You
just want to leave school.”
Miller forced herself to
buckle down when she realized gradu
ation was still several months away.
But she’s not
too con
cerned about
life after
graduation,
because
“there’s al
ways grad
school,” she
said.
For many students,
“senioritis” is a form of denial that the
real world is banging on the door, says
Sara Hoover, director of personal
counseling at Birmingham Southern
College.
“They’ve had so much struc
ture in their lives—probably since kin
dergarten—they feel so much pressure
to know what they’ll be doing in
June,” she said. “And so many people
are asking them what they’re going
to do.”
Instead of finishing resumes
or grad school applications, many stu
dents decide to blow off classes, fre
quent bars every night, and even take
time away from their job search to play
Frisbee in the sun.
“It affects seniors in differ
ent ways,” Hoover said. “I have seen
some folks come in stressed to the
limit. They’re so worried about their
GPA, getting the right job, what
they’re going to do after May 31.”
Then there’s the students
who come in and say, “I just don’t
care. I’m just going to party this se
mester,” Hoover said. “Their GPA
may be great until that last semester.”
Jen Nowitzky, a James
Madison University senior, admits that
she goes out three nights a week and
expects that to increase as the weather
grows warmer and graduation gets
closer.
“You get tired of the busy
work and realize this is it, my last
chance to chill before stepping into the
chaotic real world,” she said.
Nowitzky’s excited about
leaving college, but a little worried
because, “1 haven’t even looked at my
resume in three months, much less sent
one out,” she said.
That’s the mistake a lot of
seniors make, according to Chuck
McConnell, president and CEO of
FirstCareer, a job counseling service
for college students and recent gradu
ates.
“They really don’t have a
sense of urgency to go into [their
university’s] career services,” he said.
“Most of these universities have great
resources that go untapped.”
He points to the most recent
U.S. Department of Education statis
tics indicating that one year after
See SENIORITIS, page 2
New organization seeks to improve
quality of life for residential students
By Amanda Fellers
Staff Writer
When Rob Foreman returned from a conference
for N.C. housing officers in October 1996, he brought
with him the idea of starting a Resident Hall Association
at Methodist. The RHAs that already exist at several
colleges in N.C. are dedicated to bettering the residential
living experience. Foreman wanted to bring that same
idea to Methodist.
The decrease in the number of resident students
at Methodist was a concern to Foreman, residential area
coordinator and assistant director of student activities.
The decrease has been attributed to complaints from some
resident students that they’re paying too much to live on
campus and not getting enough for their money.
In January, Foreman presented the idea of
forming an RH A and explained its benefits:
( It will serve as a student voice in the residence
halls.
( It will provide leadership and growth opportuni
ties for student leaders.
( It will provide educational, cultural and social
programs that will enhance
the college education and experience.
( It will give students the option of purchasing
items like carpets, linens, and MicroFridges at a conve
nient on-campus location with competitive prices.
( Its overall effect will create an environment that
will enhance the living and learning experience within the
resident halls.
Freshman resident advisor Shawn Hartman
thought forming an RHA was an excellent idea.
“I like the fact that it will give resident students a
say in dorm life,” Hartman said. He described residents as
“taxpayers” who currently have little say in dorm issues.
RHA will serve as an open forum for residents to
share their concerns and ideas.
“If [residents] want to complain, complain
to RHA,” Hartman said. “Complain to the right
people.”
According to Foreman, the RHA will
“provide services to make residential living better.”
RHA has invested in MicroFridge, a
compact unit consisting of a microwave oven placed
atop a freezer and a refrigerator. Residents have the
option of renting a MicroFridge for the year for $110
($55 each if roommates share). MicroFridge will be
available next semester.
Another idea being considered by RHA that
would provide a more comfortable living environ
ment is carpet service. Residents would be able to
purchase a carpet of their color choice, perfectly cut
to fit their rooms. The carpets would be delivered
during the summer and ready for residents in the fall.
Other possible services for residents
available through RHA include linens, towels,
storage trunks and shelving systems.
Hartman wants residents to realize at least
one thing about RHA; “This is their organization. It
is created for them, by them, to enhance their dorm
life.” He hopes residents will take advantage of the
opportunities for them to start making some of the
decisions about dorm life.
RHA is open to any resident who wishes to
improve the quality of life in his/her dorm or hall.
RHA elections will be held April 21 and are open to
all residents.
If anyone would like more information on
RHA and its services, contact the Resident Life
Office at 630-7626.
INSIDE
Students start their own Web design company page 2
SGA candidates discuss their platforms page 2
Baseball team sets their sights on World Series page 3
Softball team aims for conference tournament page 3
Cult mentality abounds in our society page 4
Truth about Gulf War illness remains a secret page 4
Spring Fling '97 offers games, movie, bands
By Dawn Melvin
Staff Writer
Games and various enter
tainment will be the highlight for stu
dents during Spring Fling April 24-
26.
A caricature artist will open
the festivities Thursday, April 24 in
the Berns Center from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. There is no cost for the draw
ing.
On Friday, April 25, a large,
inflated obstacle course will be set
up in front of the Bems Center. There
will also be a volleyball and basket
ball tournament. On Friday evening,
the horror movie Scream will be
shown on the football field. There will
be free popcorn and drinks.
On Saturday, April 26, the
student band Play with the Rattle will
open for the band Life in General. Life
in General played at Spring Fling ‘96
and also at a Methodist coffeehouse
last fall.
Susan Cherry, a junior and
secretary of the student activities com
mittee, said, “There was a lot of good
feedback from the students about Life
in General, so we thought we would
book them again for this year.”
The Student Activities Com
mittee plans the Spring Fling and
meets every Friday at 11 a.m. in Din
ing Room 3 for interested students.
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