How religious organizations are affecting students and spiritual life on campus

As I was walking with my fraternity brother, Malcolm Mason, from The Roost back to my dorm on the evening of Oct. 4, there were two college-aged girls handing out religious pamphlets to passersby.

When one of them approached us, I asked if the two of them were affiliated with the campus. She said no. I replied by saying that they aren’t allowed to hand anything out to students if they aren’t a campus organization.

“Anyone can spread the gospel,” she replied.

As we were walking away, I called Public Safety. Mason walked me past Irion Hall, then turned around to stall the two girls until Public Safety reached them. Public Safety was not particularly phased by this, as this is not the first time this has happened.

Many students on campus have either seen or heard of supposed “cults” roaming campus grounds trying to recruit vulnerable students into their highly conservative and often controlling religious groups.

However, this is not new to campus or many other college campuses. There have been dozens of posts on social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram about students’ experiences with re- ligious groups approaching them.

Senior Mahvesh Arif said that she had never inter- acted with these religious groups personally but knew from her peers that the members of these groups would put “a lot of pressure on you and keep talking to you.”

Arif stated that she began hearing about the religious groups during her freshman or soph- omore year.

Another student, senior Clare Songco, explained that she also began hearing about them around her sophomore year, and she even had a personal run-in with them.

Songco noted that she would see “three of them walking around campus” during the day and that “one had a guitar, and the other two had bibles.”

Songco and her friends were stopped outside of Irion Hall one day and were asked to join one of the group’s “jam sessions.”

“They were really pushy until my friend said that they weren’t religious,” Songco said.

The major issue many students on campus have with these religious groups is that the people they employ to come to campus look just like other students. Often, they were sighted wearing backpacks but would never go to class, seated in either the cafeteria or The Roost.

Junior Emerson Azcoitia noticed them their freshman year.

“They tried to get me to come to a bible study in the Roost at an odd time,” Azcoitia said.

Azcoitia heard about them previously during a Spiritual Life Council (SLC) meeting.

Senior Ben Robins, president of SLC, stated that he had also seen them “in the cafeteria talking to students about the Bible.”

Robins had a particularly notable run-in with members of one of these religious groups during J-term 2022, when Robins and his roommate, Lola Frost, were in Stanger Hall.

Two members of one of these groups managed to get into Stanger Hall and were knocking on residents’ doors. Robins stated that when they knocked on his door, Frost answered, and the two strangers “said they were going to pray for us.”

The other main issue is that no one truly knows which organization these students were from.

There was one speculation that they were part of a known cult, the International Church of Christ, as there were two instances of their members pretending to be EU students, with another ac- tually being a student who was baptized wearing an EU shirt in a Facebook post.

There were different people from these religious groups each year between 2021 to now, making it another palaver for Public Safety, and the SLC, to keep track.

Robins stated that these groups “were asked to leave and didn’t, and had no authority or reason to be on campus.”

Senior Eaden Hvarre, vice president of SLC, said she “never personally interacted with them” but was aware of the issue because she had been on SLC since her freshman year.

Hvarre stated that the presence of these groups

hurts religious life on campus “because it supports negative opinions about religious life, so it’s hard for genuinely good religious life clubs to recruit people.”

Hvarre mentioned the fact that these “cult people look like students,” and that makes it “hard for people to know the difference.”

This leaves one question: What should students do?

Robins advises students to not interact with strangers who approach them.

“Don’t interact with people who walk up to you with no business and no connection; don’t answer their questions,” Robins said.

Azcoitia recommends students take action if anyone who’s not part of the campus engages with them.

“I recommend that people call Public Safety if anyone of non-campus affiliation interacts with them and stay aware,” Azcoitia said.

From myself, as a third-year resident adviser, do not let anyone into your building if you don’t know them. Also, don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t hold the door open for you; if you live in that building, there should be no issue getting in on your own.

If you, as a student, are looking for legitimate religious organizations on campus, check out Bluejay Life. All organizations there are approved and run by EU students. If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to SLC, Chaplain Scott Matheney, or the Office of Student Affairs.

If you do come across a non-EU student handing out religious pamphlets or asking you to join them off campus for bible study, call Public Safety at 630-617-3000.