Suspected cult holds seminars

No University students attended the "Success Course for the '90's" at Houston Hall throughout the weekend, lecturer and seminar leader Helen Collier said yesterday. The four three-hour seminars were given by Summit University, an organization connected with Church Universal and Triumphant, also known as Summit Lighthouse. CUT, which is based in Montana, is known to many as a cult. Its leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, has said God has spoken to her and predicted in 1990 that the world would come to an end within 12 years. CUT has been accused of anti-Semitism and storehousing weapons. Collier completely denied the accusations of anti-Semitism, saying that the group even uses Kabbala, known as Jewish mysticism, in their work and has spread Kabbalistic teachings to Russian Jews. But History Preservation and Urban Studies Professor George Thomas said he is "infuriated that Penn had permitted this group on campus without any special regulation or guidance." Thomas, who said he has seen the organization's site and has heard a great deal about how they work, added that the cult is a very dangerous organization that could have affected University students in very negative ways. "The purpose is to take away self will and individuality," he said last night. "It is not self growth, it is control." The seminars, which included lectures by Collier and a video of Prophet, were brought to campus by alumnus Paula Benner, a member of CUT. Benner, who graduated from the Graduate School of Education in 1988, is part of the Summit Lighthouse Study Group in Philadelphia. According to Office of Activities and Facilities Director Fran Walker, the University's open expression guidelines allow anyone or any group to come to campus, as long as it is not against the law. But Thomas said the University should have taken responsibility for the group's presence on campus. He suggested that the University should have had faculty, counselors or the chaplain in attendance to respond to the lectures and seminars. In addition, Thomas said the $75 per person cost could have been a factor in "roping students in" to the organization. "The $75 hook gets people to stay because they want to get their money's worth," he said. "The University should have made a guideline that a group can't charge money to present on our campus. A free exchange of ideas should be presented for free." Associate Religious Studies Professor Stephen Dunning said last week the group is "very open, straightforward and legitimate." But Thomas accused CUT of conducting "insidious" control games, brainwashing, and using other "very distressing" techniques. "They have purposes you don't understand," he added. "The moment it shifts into this more dynamic process, you lose people to it." Collier said she focuses her lectures on teaching her students how to "be anything they want to be." "Each one of us has the power within ourselves to be or do anything we want," she said after her lecture. "I am teaching all mental illness, all tension, all stress, all anxiety comes from a disorganized mind. "The first thing we need in our life is a reason for being," Collier added. Collier said she is a scientist and teaches a religion called "infinite intelligence." She added that the religion has the equivalent of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in Intellect, Conscious, and Willpower. Collier said she teaches the intellectual end of the course while Prophet focuses on spirituality. Both teach the belief in the "ascended master." Collier said she uses three methods in her teaching -- scientific meditation, prayer and the power of the spoken word. She added that 98 percent of all people who take success courses will not truly succeed. "I am working with the 2 percent who are ready for what I am teaching," she added. Seven people besides Benner and Collier attended Sunday's seminar. But Collier said she does not pay attention to the number of people who listen to her. "If I can help one person, it's worthwhile," Collier said. After Collier lectured for three hours, she showed a videotape of Prophet giving a lecture to a group of her followers. During that lecture, Prophet used repetition, imagery, astrology and various other focuses in her message. She spoke often of the "Holy Christ self" and her followers joined her in reciting the mantra of the organization. "I am, I am, I am light," they shouted. "I am my fullest dimension. I am my spirit's intention. I am light, light, light -- lighting the world everywhere I go." Thomas said this is an example of how serious and dangerous CUT is. "We were fortunate no students came and no one got involved," he said, noting that cults often try to bring students who are lonely or tired and can be easily manipulated. Thomas said he visited CUT's restaurant in Montana and saw "50 or 60 people in the restaurant and fields uniformly dressed with that sort of weird, passive facial look." "It was very, very bizarre," Thomas said. But Benner said she found support from the organization. "I found a way of life, a psychology, a diet and answers to my spiritual questions," she said. And Collier said she hopes to come back to the University. "This is my first time at the University of Pennsylvania, but I would love to have them sponsor me to come and speak," Collier said.