Fishing from the pools of Hallowed halls …

In 2014, a Harvard grad student found this blog and contacted me.  “School” was courting and baiting him. The “making friends” (cough, recruitment) team met with him for many months, almost a year, if my memory serves me correctly.

He told me he enjoyed the people, the conversations, the ideas discussed, etc. But when they extended the super secret, it’s-very-important-that-you-don’t-tell-anyone -about-this-it’s-private … just-for-you invitation, he balked.

The required secrecy prompted a Web search and he found Cult Confessions. We batted a few emails back and forth and I suggested that he contact student affairs … he said, “good idea.”

I have no idea whether he followed up – but those of us trained in “school’s” art of  “making friends” know that Boston’s myriad of colleges and universities make for great cult fishing. A Harvard Graduate student would be quite an asset! Maybe I should contact Harvard’s student affairs office…

Opinions?

6 thoughts on “Fishing from the pools of Hallowed halls …

  1. Haven't Decided Today says:

    Back oh so many years ago I remember when people out recruiting were told to lay off the college students and find people who had some actual experience of living. Maybe they found too many weren’t naive enough.

    And Geoff C. monitors these boards? Oh, man, really? Geoff, is that actually the best you can do with your time and life? Jesus, how disappointing. If I had to pick someone I knew who had been badly burned by that group so many, many years ago and left to take a substantial rap to protect others, well, you’d have been one of two. You are so much smarter than this. Or, at least I though you might have been. Ah, well, we all make mistakes. Some just go back to repeat them.

    • The Gentle Souls Revolution says:

      Hi HDT – I can’t help but wonder about the story behind this comment:
      ” If I had to pick someone I knew who had been badly burned by that group so many, many years ago and left to take a substantial rap to protect others, well, you’d have been one of two. You are so much smarter than this. Or, at least I though you might have been. Ah, well, we all make mistakes. Some just go back to repeat them.”

      Care to share?

      • Haven't Decided Today says:

        I don’t see it as my story to tell. Let’s leave it at third line work can land you into a world of trouble. Maybe the more indirect and slower way they do it now was an eventual response.

  2. The Gentle Souls Revolution says:

    Hello HDT – Thanks for your comment!
    “Maybe they found too many weren’t naive enough.”

    I would guess that probably is the case.

    “And Geoff C. monitors these boards? ”

    That’s the word … also Josh L, I hear.

  3. Snowbird says:

    There is no way that Student Services can stop students from being talked to by cults, religious leaders, or political pundits.
    However Cult Confessions- You could offer to initiate, or help initiate, a Cult Awareness Workshop on local campuses.

    (Grad students don’t usually have enough money to get invited).

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