"There have been students who have giventhousands of dollars in tuition payments and loansto the Church, one student was working twenty toforty hours a week and giving all of her money tothe Church," DeGreeff says.

"The Church isolates students from theirfriends and roommates on campus," he says. "Therehave been a number of students who've had realacademic problems here because of the church and Ithink it's not a healthy organization or apositive thing."

Former members of the church claim they werepressured to met recruitment quotas.

Rick G. Bauer, a graduate of the DivinitySchool, once led college recruitment in the Bostonarea for the Church. Rank in the Church was linkedto the ability to draw in more people, Bauer says,comparing the group to a sales corporation. "Themore widgets you sell, the more people you canconvert, the higher in the organization youbecome," he says.

Monique A. Cloutier, a former member of thechurch who converted as a student at Northeastern,says members were always given quotas on how manypeople to invite to Church meetings and were madeto feel guilty if the quotas were not met.

"If you didn't meet the quota, you'd have to goand ride the T before meetings to meet extrapeople," Cloutier says. "[The leadership] would bedisappointed in you for not meeting thequota...God was disappointed, too. There was a lotof motivation out of guilt."

The Church targets smart people which makesHarvard students particularly vulnerable, pastmembers say. "We were told to go after `sharp'people people who made a difference," Cloutiersays. "They really want those type of people, thepeople who can make the biggest impact inspreading the doctrines of the Church."

Intelligent and famous converts add credibilityto a religious group, Bauer says. "The morehigh-profile, successful, powerful a person is,the more attractive a convert they become," Bauersays.

First-year students looking for friends areespecially susceptible to cult-like groups, Bauersays. "Freshmen are very vulnerable, most of themhave not heard or have not been warned aboutcult-like groups," Bauer says. "When you're afreshman, you're lonely and looking to connect."

When Bauer was a leader with the Church,members were shown how to stage bible studies, hesays. "We would have workshops before the semesterbegan on what to say, what not to say, how tosupport the leader, what comments wereappropriate," he says. "The whole thing wascompletely staged."

Cloutier says Church members orchestrated mockbible talks to recruit new converts when she was amember. "You'd practice things you could andcouldn't say," she says. "The view when you're inthe Church is that you can't let everyone knowwhat you really teach or they won't become amember."

During Bauer's stint in the church, leadersmade sure new converts did not have time toreflect on the major choices they were making intheir lives, he says. "We would plan things outand call it [the convert's] conversion calendar,"he says. "We had it scheduled so they had verylittle time to reflect on the momentous decisionswe were encouraging them to make."

Hrnicek refutes allegations of churchmanipulation and control, and says his actions areindependent of the Church leadership and shouldnot be an issue before the COCL.

"[My friends in the Church] respect myindependence," Hrnicek says. "I've been able tomake my own decision, I've confronted all theevidence and heard all the hearsay," he says. "Ibelieve that anyone with an open mind will comeout in favor of the church."

"I am very serious about [my religion] and Ithink this is why the Church has come undervarious charges of mind control and being tooinvolved in members' lives," Hrnicek says. "Thechurch is very serious and I am very serious."