Two nationally known authorities on cults will speak at West Virginia University during a three-day seminar sponsored by the WVU Office for Social Justice April 3-5.
While cults on college campuses are generally on the rise, WVU has remained fairly insulated from this frightening national trend, said Jennifer McIntosh, WVU executive office for Social Justice.”Nonetheless, it is an important topic that those in the business of higher education cannot afford to overlook,”she said.
The two main speakers, one a former cult member turned evangelist, and the other a national authority on cults and mind control, will speak on”Cults: Fact and Fiction”at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, in the WVU Mountainlair Ballrooms, focusing on the dangers of mind control and the characteristics of people who are most susceptible to cult indoctrination.
Ronald Loomis is a nationally recognized authority on cults on university campuses. He is past president of the Association of College Unions International and served in university administration for 35 years at Cornell and the University of Minnesota, among others.
He has presented hundreds of lectures, seminars and workshops on cults for colleges and universities, secondary schools and professionals in the fields of mental health, medicine, psychiatry, health care, education, law enforcement, religion, law and youth. He has also been interviewed by national news organizations, including NBCs Today Show.
He has undergraduate degrees in sociology and psychology from the University of Connecticut and did graduate study in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota.
Kyle Legge, now a counseling minister, has spoken extensively on his experiences as a former cult member.
Legge currently specializes in working with families who have had children become cult members and speaks from broad experience internationally.
He has testified before the Illinois legislative committee investigating cults and more recently has worked in Spain and Australia where cult activity is growing.
Legge has a bachelors degree in Bible Studies from Lubbock Christian College and has done post graduate work in psychology at Northern Illinois University.
Other activities planned in conjunction with the symposium include a 1-3:30 p.m. panel
discussion on Monday, April 3, in the Mountainlair Grandview Gallery. Members of the WVU Counseling Center and Campus Ministries will participate.
Later that day, there will be a 4-5 p.m. administrative discussion on policy development in the Stewart Hall Presidents Conference Room.
In addition to the evening talk on Tuesday, April 4, there will be a 2-4:30 p.m. Student Services Professional Development talk in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
On Wednesday, April 5, campus security and community police will attend a 9 a.m. professional development seminar on recognizing and dealing with cult activity in Assembly Rooms A&B of the National Research Center on Coal and Energy.
Later, student administration will gather to discuss cult awareness at 7 p.m. in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
For more information on the symposium, call the Office for Social Justice, 304-293-5496.