Freedom Writer - March 1994

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Moon over Bridgeport

Controversy has roared, both before and after the 1992 takeover of 
the University of Bridgeport (UB), in Connecticut, by an arm of the 
Unification Church (UC) of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

Before the coup, many in Bridgeport and the university community charged 
that the church would engage in the deceptive recruiting and "mind 
control" practices for which it had become notorious. The church, 
they believed, would use the school for its own messianic, theocratic 
purposes. This would conflict with the secular educational purposes 
for which the school was founded, and bound by state charter. The 
school's reputation was at stake.

As it turned out, the Concerned Citizens of Bridgeport, the group 
that has fought the takeover, was absolutely right.

Last year, the financially troubled university was essentially bought 
out by the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), a Moon front, in 
a secret, and possibly illegal, deal that turned over majority control 
of the board to PWPA. 

The agreement included PWPA's intentions to integrate "over the long-term" 
UB's programs with other "Unification Movement projects," including 
Moon's _Washington_Times_ newspaper.

Although UB/PWPA down-played the Moon connection, a church member, 
Anthony Guerra, was soon installed as assistant dean for academic 
affairs. What's more, last year none other than Mrs. Sun Myung Moon 
spoke at the school on behalf of her new group, the Women's Federation 
for World Peace, as part of her international speaking tour (transpiring 
mostly in rented hotel ballrooms).

PWPA, according to the deal, would recruit students from the former 
Soviet Union and the Far East. Indeed, there are many foreign students 
at UB now. However, last year, two Russians said that they had been 
offered free tuition at "Father's University" in the United States 
on the condition that they attend Moon indoctrination seminars. 

As for the "reputation" of the school, an obvious measure is student 
enrollment. Since the advent of the Moon deal, enrollment has "crashed," 
according to Glenn Davis, who is writing a history of the university. 
Although there are certainly many reasons, the Moon factor seems paramount. 
In September of 1991, there were 3940 students; by September of 1992, 
there were only 1340, only 700 of which were full-time.

Bill Finch, a courageous Bridgeport alderman, says that "the Moon 
organization is anti-democratic and antithetical to the mission of 
higher education." He also says that the financial promise of a "bail-out" 
has not been borne out. "A dozen buildings are in serious disrepair," 
he says. 

Moon himself, through his public statements, has a 30-year record 
of contempt for American democracy, and a flagrant disregard for the 
law. Indeed, one Washington DC newspaper routinely refers to him as 
"convicted felon Sun Myung Moon." Moon did time in the big house for 
perjury and obstruction of justice charges in connection with a federal 
tax fraud case in the 1980s. 

As it now stands, Moon control of UB may be undone by the persistence 
of the Community Coalition of Bridgeport and a lawsuit which charges 
that the deal was illegal.

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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