Universities steer new students away from cults
BY MAMI UEDA
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2009/5/19
Universities around Japan are stepping up measures to prevent their
first-year students from joining religious cults.
The schools have been fertile ground for recruitment by cults. Some
cultists try to lure students by pretending that their groups are
regular student clubs.
Kenji Kawashima, a professor at Keisen University in Tokyo,
initiated a drive earlier this year to form a network of
universities to fight cults active at more than one school.
Schools on the network's mailing list started exchanging
information on cult activities in March.
About 50 schools have joined the network. And more schools are
taking action to stop cult recruitment on campus.
"I think (the stepped-up measures) are because of the reports on
Setsuri (providence) soliciting members at universities in 2006.
After that, schools became more aware that if nothing is done,
their social responsibility will be questioned," Kawashima
said.
Setsuri actively recruited members from some of Japan's most
prestigious universities. Its South Korean leader was convicted of
sexually assaulting female followers and received a 10-year prison
term in Seoul earlier this year.
At Okayama University, which admitted about 2,500 first-year
students this spring, members of a rowing club and other athletic
teams handed out fliers about an event to welcome new members last
month.
All of the flier-distributors wore armbands issued by the
university, as well as their student IDs.
During entrance exams earlier this year, university officials
discovered that members of a cult active at universities outside
Okayama Prefecture were giving fliers to the exam takers. The
fliers solicited subscriptions for an online magazine that
supposedly offered "useful information on universities."
This prompted the school to distribute about 2,000 armbands to the
student clubs. The university requires students to wear the
official armband when soliciting members to their extracurricular
activities.
University staff members issue warnings to people without the
armbands who are recruiting other students.
At Chiba University, where on-campus solicitation by Setsuri was a
serious problem, a consultation desk on cults was set up in 2006.
The university also established a committee to prevent such
solicitation in 2008.
Only about 180 official and semi-official groups are allowed to
recruit members on school premises. University staff members also
patrol the campus for cult members.
"Compared with an average year, we have more inquiries from
students and guardians about cult solicitation this year," said a
Chiba University professor in charge of the consultation desk.
At Osaka University, a mandatory, 90-minute special lecture on
school life for first-year students started in 2006. It includes a
warning to avoid recruitment by religious cults.
In addition to conventional methods, such as information
distributed through school publications and at events, Waseda
University plans to issue warnings via an online lecture starting
this fiscal year.
However, universities are concerned that their actions against the
cults could infringe upon freedom of religion.
Still, Kawashima urges schools to remain firm.
"There is freedom of religion, but soliciting followers while
disguising themselves is morally unforgivable," he said.(IHT/Asahi:
May 19,2009)