1997_04 The Daily Collegian April 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, April 7,1997
Back Page
College students in crisis may be vulnerable to cults
By Adolfo Mendez
College Press Service       *
, After 12 years of being in a cult. Lisa
Caroll left the group to obtain a master's
degree in sociology.
"I wanted to find out why I went in."
said Caroll. who now works in public re¬
lations for a Southern California college.
Caroll joined when she was 18. while
she was a freshman in college.
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 mainstream religion. It's the
feeling of emptiness," she says.
Concerned for her safety, Caroll pre¬
fers 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 commit mass sui¬
cide in San Diego. "1 would have done
anything to protect the leader of the group.
I believed that she was God," Caroll said
of her group, not tied to Heaven's Gate.
"I had dreams about throwing myself
in front of a bullet to protect her. The group
that I 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."
College students arc often drawn into cults '
because the groups "mix truth with lies. If it
was just one big lie, it would be easy."
While it's normal to feel homesick while
being away from home, nol all students know
how to cope with their feelings, Caroll said.
Some, as a result, join cults, which fill the
need for family, she said.
Estimates on the number of active cults
in America range anywhere from 3.000 to
5,000, depending on the source. Numbers for
college student involvement arc more diffi¬
cult to come by, given the secrecy of such
groups.
But experts say that research into cults
reveals some common themes in such groups:
I. Mind control. Many groups discourage
members from reading material other than
that produced by the cult group. They dis¬
courage television and newspaper reading.
The reason this works, says Caroll, is because
they label such sources as being part of the
"dark side."
2. Cutting family ties. "With lots of
groups, they'll tell you your family is unen¬
lightened." Caroll said. "Once you're out of
your support system, you become more de¬
pendent on them."
3, Denial off reality. Sometimes, reality
becomes distorted by date-setting, says Larry
A. Trachte. a professor at Wartburg College
in Waverly, Iowa. Trachte. who's taught a
course titled "Religious Cults" since 1979,
expects a rise in the start of a millennialist
fervor as the year 2000 approaches.
The Heaven's Gale cult believed a space¬
ship was traveling Whind 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
don't worry about the stress in school. All
the stress your under doesn't matter, because
school really doesn't matter." Caroll said.
Still, colleges expose students to a world
of ideas—ideas which threaten a cult's grip
on members. Some groups, therefore, try to
persuade young followers to drop out. Caroll
said.
Not everyone believes college students are
prime targets for cult groups.
Erling Jorstad. professor emeritus at St.
Olaf College in Northfield. Minn., has stud¬
ied groups like the Unification Church,
Moonics and smaller groups such as The
Way International, and says today's col¬
lege students aren't in any real danger.
"Today's collegians are not very vul¬
nerable to cult appeal." Jorstad said. "Dur¬
ing the 70s with the counterculture and
the anti-Vietnam war sentiment, cults had.
a strong appeal to the idealistic, 'let's
make the world a better place' collegians.
Or. cults offered a haven, a safe place
away from the pressures of social activist
involvement."
But in 1997, social activism is dead,
he says. "This Generation X. with its
postmodernist outlook has little or no in¬
terest in such change. Their cynicism mir¬
rors that of the older generation, with little
interest in organized politics, organized
religion or formal educational pursuits."
While Jorstad acknowledges that there
are some exceptions, he says today's col¬
legians are more drawn to self discovery
and individual expression than to social
activism. "If this sounds pessimistic, it is
because the mood swing for this genera¬
tion has been that profound since the
1970s." he said.
Softball
Continued from page 1.
an RBI single to Leah Braatz-
Cochrane and walked Lisa Pitt with
the bases loaded. Lindsay Parker
entered the game in relief with the
bases loaded and only one out. and
got out of the inning without fur¬
ther damage.
"I just wanted to get groundouts.
I just wanted to get out of the in¬
ning without them scoring any
more runs," Parker said. "That sets
the morale for the team."
Parker pitched the final 6 2/3
innings, allowing seve'n hits, one
walk and most importantly, no runs.
While Parker shut down
Arizona's powerful offense, the
Bulldogs manufactured a run in the
third inning when Randi Berg
scored on a double steal with two
outs.
But the big blow came in the
fifth inning, when left fielder
Amanda Scott hit a one out bases-1
loaded double oh a 3-2 pitch lo give
the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead. One out
later, freshman Angela Cervantez
tripled into the right field corner,
scoring Scott.
Arizona threatened again jn the
sixth inning, loading the bases with
no outs. But Parker got pinch-hit¬
ter Christy Gil and lead-off hitler
Alison Johnsen to hit ground balls,
and the runners were thrown out at
home.
Then, on a 3-2 pitch, she struck
out Olympian Lead O'Brien on a
called third strike.
"Unbelievable. They're [Ari¬
zona] always tough. I think our
lineup is just as tough, but I don't
pitch to our lineup in games,"
Parker said. "There are no holes in
their lineup, you don't rely on any
one baiter [to get out], you just have
to believe that you can get every¬
body out and throw everything you
have."
In game two, the lead changed
hands four times before a four-run
fourth inning by the Bulldogs gave
Fresno State a comfortable 6-3 lead.
Again, Scott delivered the big
blow, a one-out two-run single in
the fourth to keep the Bulldogs On
top. She had two hits and five RBI
for the series, and has a 23-game
hitting streak.
"I'm just waiting for my pitch
and jumping on it." Scott said.
"That's what we're all trying to do
is just lay off the bad pitches, make
the good adjustments and just
pound it."
She also started the second
game, scattering nine hits and one
walk over seven innings for the win.
She struck out nine, including strik¬
ing out the side in the fifth inning
after runners reached first and sec¬
ond with no one out.
"All my pitches were working
pretty good," Scott said. "My
whole object in the game was don't
keep anything on the plate where
-•.hey could pound it, and let them
just make the outs. We have a great
defense."
Third baseman Trina Puckett.
second baseman Nina Lindenberg
and Shortstop Randi Berg provided
sparkling defense on several hard
hit balls. And Berg collected four
hits for the series, all leading off
innings. In three of those four in¬
nings, the Bulldogs scored runs.
"Randi [Berg] was awesome,"
Wright said. " She did a great job
getting on base and starting the in¬
nings. That's the story right there; I
mean, where would we be without
her?"
This is the first time the Bull¬
dogs have swept Arizona, the win¬
ners of three of the last four national
championships.
"It was really important [to win
both games). It's my last year.
We've never done this before."
Berg said. "Just like UCLA, we've
never swept them before. It's a
whole new season."
"I think if we want to move up
the rankings, we had to sweep."
Scott said. "It's just great — we
know exactly what we need to do
now for the rest of the road to get
our goal at the end."
The Bulldogs are now 37-6 on
the season, and can put the San Jose
State loss behind them. After
pounding the Spartans 18-0 in the
first game, the Bulldogs lost 6-3 in
the second game.
"I'm really pleased that our team
came together and wc got the hits
when we needed them, especially
coming back when we were down.
If wc cap do it against them, wc can
do it against anybody," Robyn
Yorke said. "We've won the first
game a lot of times but not the sec¬
ond. So winning two and looking
strong in both games was extremely
important."
Baseball
^Continued from page 1.
hitter Bubba Crosby hit a solo home
run to deep right center to cut in half
the Bulldog's lead to 2-1.
Aftef the next batter grounded
out, catcher Justin Berg bounced a
1 -2 pitch to third and was able to
beat out the throw to first.
Charles Williams followed by
hitting a sinking line drive to right
field, which appeared to be an easy
play for Derek Feramisco — but he
slipped on his first step trying to
come in on the ball and landed belly
first.
However, Feramisco was able
to reach just far enough while on
the ground to catch the ball and
avert potential disaster, saving the
well-earned victory for Griffin and
the Bulldogs.
"For the most part I was just
keeping the ball down," Griffin
said. "I got ground balls and was
hitting my spots.."
The winning run came in the
sixth inning thanks to the clutch
hitting of Derrick Levingston.
After Giuseppe Chiarmonte
struck out with runners on first and
second, Levingston came to the
plate with two outs and Fresno State
holding a 1-0 lead.
On a 2-2 count, Levingston hit
a solid line drive to right field that
fell in for a base hit and scored Josh
Hannah.
"Actually I prefer facing pitch¬
ers that throw hard," Levingston
said. "It does not give you any time
to think. You just have to react."
Hannah extended his hitting
streak to 24 games, and is only five
games shy of the record held by
former Bulldog Tom Goodwin.
Fresno improved to 26-14 over-
all and 12-5 in the WAC the Bull¬
dogs will next play Cat Poly on
Tuesday before facing division
leader San Jose State.
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