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U of A unresponsive to complaints about church that recruits on campus, former members say

From the Members flee Tucson church’s actions, teachings series
  • 11 min to read
U of A unresponsive to complaints about church that recruits on campus, former members say

For decades, Wildcat families have been warning the University of Arizona that its students were being targeted by a campus church that seemed like a cult.

Many say they received the same reply: They were told the UA only investigates complaints from current students.

But a current student and a recent dropout both say that when they tried to complain about Tucson Faith Christian Church Inc., their emails went unanswered or their phone calls were misdirected to campus agencies that couldn’t help.

UA Dean of Students Kendal Washington White is ultimately responsible for handling student complaints on campus. She did agree to a March interview about Faith Christian but did not respond to the Star’s emailed questions about specific complaints the Star discovered.

In a March 10 email, UA spokeswoman Pam Scott said the university has no jurisdiction over Faith Christian Church, only its on-campus clubs. She said the office has not received any recent complaints about the church’s three affiliated clubs.

Yet the Star found the UA received at least one complaint alleging chronic violations of student-club bylaws by one of the church clubs, Wildcats For Christ.

Under UA rules, campus clubs can be affiliated with a church but must be “student-controlled” and must operate free of discrimination. Wildcats for Christ routinely ignores those requirements, the complaint said.

The complaint was submitted last year by UA alum Ryan Tucker, an ex-president and ex-treasurer of Wildcats for Christ. His account is backed up by a former club advisor, four other former club presidents interviewed by the Star and by emails Tucker received from church officials during his time as president in 2019.

Dean of Students Washington White did not respond to the Star’s query about how many complaints her office has received about the church itself.

The university has not yet responded to the Star’s March 8 public records request seeking any new complaints related to the church since 2015, when the Star first reported on former members' claims that the church was like a cult. The church did not challenge any of that reporting.

Dozens of UA alumni who joined the church but ultimately left have described Faith Christian as a cult that tightly controls members finances and activities, discriminates against women and promotes corporal punishment of children starting in infancy.

Church leaders have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

'Anybody can be on campus'

In a March interview Washington White said that as a public university, the UA can’t close the campus to anyone unless they’ve committed a crime, such as stalking or physical assault, or a violation of the university code of conduct.

“Anybody can be on our campus,” said Washington White, who has been Dean of Students since 2014 and worked in the office since 2009. “We can’t tell them to leave unless they are hurting someone.”

While the UA has no authority over outside groups like Faith Christian Church, it can restrict the activities of student groups on campus if they’re not following the school’s code of conduct

After the Star’s initial 2015 investigation into Faith Christian, the University Religious Council revoked Faith Christian’s membership and began publicizing a list of red flag warning signs of “religious practices gone awry.” The posters, which are displayed in all UA dorms, single-out Faith Christian and its three affiliated student organizations with the warning: “Membership revoked for integrity issues.”

Of the dozens of complaints filed against the church over the years, most have come from UA alumni who realize after graduation that their time with the church was unhealthy and, in some cases, traumatic.

“That’s what usually happens over the years — that they do come to us but at that point, when they’re not at the university, we can’t really do anything about it,” Washington White said.

Reports of aggressive recruitment tactics are most effective in the moment, she said. “If a (current) student can tell us exactly, ‘This person is out there on the mall and they’re outside right now,’ that’s really helpful. Then we can go out to the mall and have a conversation with the people from this church.”

Scott said the dean’s office recently expressed concern to Faith Christian leaders about the church’s “level of engagement in pursuing students.” A pastor responded that “any behaviors of concern would be addressed and corrected,” Scott said in the March 10 email.

Parents should prepare UA students to use discretion when joining campus groups, and it’s up to students to report any problems they encounter to the administration, Washington White said.

“The university can’t do everything,” Washington White said. Campus counselors are available for students who are having a negative experience with any on-campus group, she said.  

But former UA freshman Josephine Robideau — who left the UA in January after repeatedly trying, and failing, to file a complaint about Faith Christian — said the UA doesn’t make it easy for students to lodge complaints.

Four calls in January

Robideau, 17, dropped all her classes at the UA in January and returned to New York, in part due to her experience with Faith Christian and the lack of response from the dean of students’ office, she told the Star.

Before leaving, Robideau said she tried twice to report her concerns about the church to the Dean of Students.

The first time she called, the person who answered directed her to the University Religious Council, a volunteer group of campus faith leaders that revoked Faith Christian’s membership in 2015 over concerns about its practices.

Former University of Arizona freshman Josephine Robideau, 17, dropped all her classes and returned home to central New York state in January, after she says she tried repeatedly to file a complaint against Faith Christian Church’s practices.

The URC, which confirmed Robideau’s account to the Star, couldn’t understand why the dean’s office referred her because the dean’s office is the correct place to file a complaint.

When Robideau called the dean’s office back she was redirected again, this time to the campus police department, she said.

Campus police Sgt. Andrew Valenzuela confirmed Robideau’s account to the Star. He said he told her he couldn’t make a report because her concerns weren’t a criminal matter.

After those four phone calls, Robideau gave up. A few days later, she left the UA for good.

“Maybe I just talked to the wrong person at the wrong time” in the dean of students' office, she said. “But if that’s their department, there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn't have that awareness on the very first day working in that position.”

Dean of Students Washington White did not respond to the Star’s questions about Robideau’s experience.

'We're your family now'

Robideau said she was drawn to the friendliness of Faith Christian’s campus ministers, church employees paid to linger in high-traffic campus areas to find new recruits.

Before long, she said, church members were pressuring her to start making money so she could donate 10% of her income — gross income, not net, they emphasized — to the church.

“They were just pushing that I get a job,” said Robideau, who at the time was a triple major in Arabic, law and foreign affairs. “I had no time for a job. If anything, I needed to drop a class or two because it was too hectic.”

She said a campus minister also encouraged her to cut ties with her family after Robideau confided in her about some family problems.

She recalled the minister saying, “We’re your sisters now. We’re your family now. The whole church loves you.”

Robideau said she started to distance herself after finding the Star’s 2015 news coverage of alumni complaints about the church.

Robideau’s last few weeks on campus were stressful, she said. Faith Christian campus ministers seemed to be around every corner, cajoling her to come to church events, she said.

“Just knowing I’d have to be worried walking from place to place around campus, it just made more sense to leave,” she said. “Because, I mean, what are you really getting out of an education there if you can’t focus everything you have on it?”

Two emails, no response

UA senior Ethan Snapp, 22, said when he was a freshman in 2019, he felt “unsafe" with Faith Christian’s ministers routinely recruiting students inside his dorm. His first two emailed complaints to the dean of students’ office were ignored, until the University Religious Council contacted the dean’s office on his behalf, he said.

UA senior Ethan Snapp, 22, said the dean of students’ office didn’t respond to his first two email complaints about Faith Christian in 2019.

Snapp, then a freshman, said he felt “unsafe” living at the UA’s newly-opened Honors Village — the priciest student housing available on campus — because Faith Christian ministers were using it as a recruiting hub.

Non-residents aren’t allowed in any UA dorm unless accompanied by a resident. But the campus ministers would slip in unaccompanied, hang out in dining and study areas and try to strike up Bible conversations with new students, he said.

Frustrated by the dean of students’ lack of action, Snapp said he contacted the University Religious Council.

“I've become increasingly concerned with (campus ministers’) tactics and feel unsafe with them being allowed in my dorm,” Snapp wrote in an email to the URC. He asked if “there are any rules against these 40-year-old men being in my residence hall recruiting malleable freshmen.”

A council member responded immediately and contacted the dean’s office on his behalf, he said. From then on, the dean of students’ office was responsive, he told the Star.

A few days later, the campus ministers cleared out of the Honors Village.

'Please ban them'

Washington White did not respond to the Star’s questions about Snapp’s experience.

She also didn’t respond to a question about an anonymous complaint sent to the dean’s office, and multiple other UA departments, in December 2021 that referred to Faith Christian as a cult.

“I am aware of the freedom of speech and freedom of them to be there,” the writer said in the complaint, which the Star reviewed. “But they shouldn’t be allowed to linger in areas, specifically in front of dorms where the freshmen are to try and target them.”

“It is very abusive, they basically break you down, verbally abuse you and tell you you don’t love god if you don't fully obey them,” the complaint said. “Please ban them from campus for the sake of all freshmen.”

In response to the Star’s query, UA spokeswoman Scott said the office would look into the complaints.

Student clubs 'a sham'

Former campus ministers said UA officials don’t seem to realize they are dealing with an entity that’s manipulative, deceptive and willing to bend campus rules to the breaking point to achieve its goals.

For example, they said, Faith Christian has for years had total control over three campus clubs that are supposed to run by students. The setup allows the church’s entire congregation to meet on campus every Saturday night in a 300-seat auditorium the UA provides — free of charge.

Student clubs book the meeting space for free by saying it’s for club events, and no one checks up to see what the space actually is used for, the former members said. 

A 300-seat auditorium on campus rents for $190 an hour to outside organizations, according to the UA student union's event planning department. At that rate, Faith Christian would have to pay more than $30,000 a year to rent the type of space its student clubs book for free for four hours nearly every Saturday night.

Five former club presidents and a former club advisor who worked at the university until last year said Faith Christian makes all the decisions for the three campus clubs: Wildcats for Christ, Providence Club and Native Nations in Christ.

“The whole thing is a sham,” said Ryan Tucker, 26, ex-president of Wildcats for Christ in 2019 who graduated the UA that year with a degree in English literature. He said he joined the church as a freshman and quit in 2021.

Church employees controlled every aspect of Wildcats for Christ, Tucker said, including hand-picking the club’s officers and creating election ballots with only one candidate’s name — the church’s pick — shown for each officer position.

Emails Tucker provided to the Star show he took orders as president from associate pastors Tyler Wachenfeld and Geoff Scara and church administrator Keith Jenkins. Each of them sent instructions to his Gmail address, not his UA email address.

Wachenfeld, Scara and Jenkins did not respond to requests for comment from the Star.

No women leaders

Tucker and other former members said the church’s picks for club presidents are always men in alignment with its teachings that single women are not fit for leadership roles.

“In 30 years, I don’t think there has ever been a woman president of any of the church’s clubs,” said Amanda Cheromiah, an ex-church member and former UA employee who directed a program for Native American students.

Cheromiah, 38, holds three UA degrees including a PhD in higher education and higher education administration. While working for the UA she served as an employee advisor for Native Nations in Christ, one of the church’s other campus clubs.

She, too, recalled church staffers rigging the club’s officer elections to ensure their chosen candidates won.

Saturday night prayer meetings on campus were strictly church events, Cheromiah said. In the 14 years she attended, “I never once saw a student member lead the meeting,” she said.

Often, the only club member onsite during supposed club events was the president, whose only role was to introduce the pastor, the former presidents said.

Tucker said he complained to the dean of students’ office in August 2022. He never got a response.

“Even if they said, ‘We can’t do anything because it’s a freedom of speech issue and it’s a public campus,’ I would be fine with that,” he said. “But the fact that I’ve been continually ghosted by these people doesn’t make any sense.”

Scott said in a March 10 email that the dean’s office hadn’t received any complaints about Faith Christian’s on-campus clubs since 2015.

When asked why Tucker’s complaint wasn’t mentioned, Scott said the Star should wait for the public-records’ office response to the Star’s records request. Only complaints rooted in “actionable violations” of the student code of conduct are made into a record, she said.

'Concerning' behavior

Tucker also didn’t get a response when he sent his complaint about the student clubs to the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, or ASUA, in January 2022. Student clubs must be recognized by ASUA to operate on campus.

The issues in Tucker’s complaint “are concerning,” said Carol Barnette, advisor over ASUA clubs since February 2022, in response to the Star’s query about the complaint.

Barnette said she doesn’t know if her predecessor took any action, but Barnette has initiated talks with the clubs to see if she can confirm Tucker’s account with current members and advisors, she said.

The current faculty advisor of Wildcats for Christ is Dr. Merlin Channing “Chan” Lowe, Jr., who teaches pediatrics at the UA medical school.

Former Faith Christian campus ministers Jeff and Lisa Phillips worked on the UA campus for the Tucson church, then founded — “planted” in church parlance — two Faith Christian satellite churches on campuses in Florida and New Zealand between 1995 and 2008.

When each new church was set up, “the first thing we’d do is recruit five or six students to form a student club so we could get free space on campus,” Lisa Phillips said.

A bowl, a towel, a bar of soap

Faith Christian leaders had a number of strategies for deflecting criticism and tamping down controversy on campus, Lisa Phillips said.

She recalled a tumultuous meeting of the UA religious council in the late 1990s to which Hall, the church founder, came prepared with a large bowl, a small towel and a fresh bar of bath soap still in its wrapper.

The meeting had been called by leaders of other UA campus ministries to confront Hall over student complaints about Faith Christian’s aggressive recruiting methods, Lisa Phillips said. The list of examples, from which council members read aloud, was “a couple pages long,” she said, though she couldn’t remember specifics.

After being lambasted for more than an hour, Hall reached under his chair, pulled out his supplies, got down on one knee and asked the leader of the meeting if he’d mind taking off his socks and shoes to let Hall wash his feet as a sign of humility.

The leader seemed astonished, then annoyed, Lisa Phillips recalled.

“I remember it was a hard no. A definite no,” she said.

Posters warn students about the church

UA’s University Religious Council has been warning students about Faith Christian’s practices for years.

After the Star’s initial 2015 investigation into the church, the council revoked Faith Christian’s membership and began publicizing a list of “red flag” warning signs of “religious practices gone awry,” said Randi Kisiel, former URC secretary and current council member.

The posters, displayed in all UA dorms, single-out Faith Christian and its affiliated student clubs with the warning: “Membership revoked for integrity issues.”

Faith Christian leaders are well-practiced at staying under the radar, she said. When bad publicity bubbles up, the church lays low until the attention fades, Kisiel said.

“They know exactly what to say, exactly what not to do,” she said.

Keeping Faith Christian’s damaging practices in the public eye is crucial to ensuring new UA students are aware of the risks, Kisiel said.

“As a mother, I think they are dangerous,” Kisiel said of Faith Christian. As secretary of the religious council, “I was the one who got all of the calls from frantic parents saying, ‘Something’s happened to our child, they won’t return our calls.’ I wouldn't want my kids entangled with them.”

Documented harm

Kathy Sullivan saw radical changes in her son Sean after he got involved with Faith Christian as a UA freshman in 2013.

After making a complaint with Washington White, the Dean of Students, Sullivan said she was told the First Amendment limits the UA’s options for dealing with religious groups, Sullivan recounted.

Sullivan said she’s now less sympathetic to that argument, after seeing her son get lost in the church for six years before he left.

“A university’s first obligation is to its students and their welfare,” she said. “Having a group like this on campus that is known to have such a detrimental effect — it’s been documented — it makes me feel both sad and upset that they either can’t, or they won’t, do more.”

At the center of the University of Arizona sits the historic Old Main. This building, first opened in 1891, has seen many changes through its life. It currently houses the offices of the president of the university. Video by Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star


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