The Projector: Student’s Journal
Date September 25, 1989
CULT ON CAMPUS
Cult Recruits on Campus
Part One: In the Beginning…
By Kim Van Bruggen
Administration is warning stu-
dents to stay away from a religious cult attempting to infiltrate
the college.
Known members of the University Bible Fellowship are attending classes at the college,
according to Brian Hanson, V.P.
Student Affairs.
“They are primarily here to recruit,” Hanson said.
The group has been active on
the U of W campus for the last
four years, before being banned
from the property.
They moved on to the U of M
campus in February 1988, but
were forced off the campus after
widespread publicity made re-
cruiting difficult.
“They call themselves missionaries, and the core of the group is
Korean,” Gordon Gillespie of
Manitoba Cult Awareness said.
“It all starts very simply.
They’ll try to zero in on the lonely
ones. They’ll invite them out in
the evening to read the bible, or
take them out for lunch,” Gillespie
said.
“They use an orthodox bible,
but they put their own meanings
to it.”
The UBF started in Korea in
the early sixties. The headquarters of the group are now based in
Chicago under the direction of
founding members Samuel Lee
and Sarah Barry. There are UBF
chapters in the U.S., Canada and
eight other nations.
“Ultimately, they want you to
work full-time for them, recruiting students. They want you to
live with them.” he said.
“It starts out very slowly, but
once they get to work on you it’s
very hard to break away,” he said.
After a long struggle, Theresa
Chaisson, 23, has managed to
separate herself from the group.
“I had nightmares the first year
after I left. I’d wake up in the
middle of the night in a cold
sweat,” the second year RRCC
nursing student said.
Chaisson first came into contact with UBF while nursing at
the Health Sciences Center.
“A friend invited me to bible
study.”
“That’s how they approach the
students. They ask, ‘Have you
ever studied bible?’ or ‘Do you
believe in God?'”
The UBF “church” is a house
located in Fort Garry.
“Once you’re there, they
shower you with praise and kind-
ness, making you the center of
their attention—they call it “love
bombing,” Chaisson said.
“They’ll get settled into the
college and then send a certain
number of missionaries to ‘pioneer the college” (a term used
throughout UBF when they are
recruiting.)
“There are three Korean
women—UBF members–enrolled at the college.”
“I’ve seen them hanging around
a cute little student and I could’ve
just died. They’re surrounding
her—she’s in the center of the
three of them.”
Next issue: The second part of
Cult on Campus will detail what
happens to a new recruit once
inside the UBF, as described by
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