Cult Group Controversies:
COMMENTARY
On the Task Force to Study the Effects of Cult Activities
on Public Senior Higher Education Institutions
The Task Force held its last meeting on September 18, 1999 and forwarded its findings and recommendations to Governor Glendening. The press in Maryland and metropolitan District of Columbia essentially ignored the proceedings throughout the summer of 1999, and only the Baltimore Sun published an article after the proceedings were complete and the Final Report finished.
This archive was created because I believed from the beginning that the Task Force proceedings was not just another "business as usual" kind of legislative inquiry. The legislative resolution that created the Task Force is grounded in highly pejorative assumptions that would not be tolerated for one moment were they directed at any group in American society other than those that are collectively labeled as "cults." The creation of the Task Force was politically motivated and reflects religious prejudice that has no place in contemporary American culture.
From the onset, the proceedings were driven by political considerations. The Task Force recommendations are political. The absence of press coverage allows those who were responsible for this travesty in the first place to return another day to focus on the Task Force recommendations. When they do so, they will ignore the fact that there were no substantive findings to support the proposition that "cults" are a problem on campus.
When inquiries of any kind are buried in the archives of a legislative library, inaccessibility makes it is possible for persons to step forward and claim anything they wish about the contents, with the knowledge that it is unlikely their claims will be challenged with evidence. That is why I felt from the beginning that it was important to make these Task Force hearings accessible. That is why these archives exist.
One thing the Task Force got right is stated in the first sentence of their first finding: "The complexity of the problem is enormous..." While it is clear that some members of the Task Force understood this very clearly, many members did not move beyond the presuppositions they brought to the first meeting.
In the weeks and months ahead, I expect to add further comment about the Task Force and the issues these proceedings raised. I begin here with a short piece I wrote the day after I read the Final Report which I have entitled "Cult Task Force Mischief Exposed". And, I have included here the comments that University of Maryland President Dan Mote prepared for the Task Force. While I do not have access to the draft final report, the "quasi-secret" public deliberations leaves little doubt that the Task Force effectively ignored the concerns of President Mote and other chief executives of Maryland institutions of higher education.
I always try to keep an open mind to those who disagree with my perspective. It is clear to me that there can be no one "correct" perspective on a topic that is "enormously complex." I offer this "Commentary" page to those who would like to add their thoughts. It is not my intention to turn this page into a bulletin board for all messages that land in my mail box, but I do wish to publish letters and papers that responsibly address the issues that were before the Task Force.
I especially extend an invitation to members of the Task Force to offer your reflections on the proceedings and the report. I also encourage persons who testified before the Task Force, either by invitation or in "open forum," to offer their assessment of the outcome.
Jeffrey K. Hadden
10/07/99
- Hadden, Jeffrey K., Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia
- Cult Task Force Mischief Exposed
- Mote, D.O., Jr., President, University of Maryland, College Park
- Comments on the Draft Final Report of the Task Force to Study Cult Activities in Public Senior Higher Education