Brandon Sun, Brandon, Manitoba

Sat Oct 25, 1986—page 2

Cult Members Banned

WINNIPEG (CP)—Members of a Korea-based religious group that has been aggressively attempting to recruit students have been banned from the University of Winnipeg.

“They’re always around here,” said Caroline Krebs, president of the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association.

“It’s rather alarming. They’re in the library, cafeteria, and hallways —- harassing and bothering people,”

The mainly female Korean missionaries belong to an organization called University Bible Fellowship, which moved to Canada three years ago. The group has been widely condemned in the United States.

University security officers have been ordered to escort any members of the group off campus.

Even though one University Bible Fellowship member has been charged with petty trespass, they continue to come to the university to hand out pamphlets.

 

Brandon Sun, Brandon, Manitoba

Wed, Oct 29, 1986 – Page 56

Campus bannings

When the administrators at the University of Winnipeg resort to banning members of a religious or quasi-religious group from the campus, they engage in an unacceptable practice.

Ever since the Reformation, universities have been public sanctuaries where dissent has been encouraged, where the tradition may be challenged, where extreme opinions may have been expressed-. To ban an organized group from a campus violates this history.

The object of the wrath of officialdom is the University Bible Fellowship (UBF), which three years ago became active in Canada, an import from Korea. News reports tell of young female Koreans allegedly harassing students and faculty in hallways and cafeterias.

Even the fact that the administrators may view the reputation of UBF as unsavory, this fact should not be sufficient reason for it to fall under a general prohibition. If indeed its advocates engage in actual harassment, then charge them with petty trespassing, and transfer any possible discipline to where it should be relegated, the courts.

If university officials dislike UBF and what it stands for, then let them say so, and preach against it. Let them not, however, issue blanket bans against the supporters of any creed.