Still, experts say the label has nothing to do with radical beliefs and everything to do with behavior. Each of the estimated 3,000 cults in this country has a unique ideology, but they all share certain worrisome traits. Students are particularly easy prey. Cults provide answers. How to deal.
Private universities have more leeway in determining who's on campus.
Last month, Matthew Hale, a white supremacist and self-proclaimed pastor of the World Church of the Creator, visited Northwestern University in an attempt to establish a chapter. School officials don't know if they'll consent to the admittedly racist, antisemitic organization, even if Hale obtains the 15 required signatures to form a student group. Getting people to sign up for anything, be it the World Church of the Creator or long-distance telephone service, is not central to our mission of teaching and research. Hale's not concerned. The only question is whether we're going to be aboveboard, or be covert.