Christian handouts distress students

Christian handouts distress students

The Christian Fellowship left gift bags at the doors of all first-year students. These bags contained a copy of the New Testament, a video on alcohol abuse, a CD of Christian songs, a yo-yo, and some candy. This proved controversial because it was also the Jewish High Holiday Yom Kippur when these bags were distributed. The funding for these items was procured through an alumnus donation of $5,000 to the Campus Crusade for Christ. Several first-year Jewish students were offended by the bags.

Volume 97, Number 2

Jen Crystal

The Campus

09/22/1999

Steve Bertolino '00- Christian Fellowship Coordinator
Mike Hartt '01
Jen Masiak '01

"[Steve Bertolino] stated that the organization was aware that the day of distribution was Yom Kippur, but did not think that this would be an issue because they were not being confrontational in their distribution."

"Mike Hartt '01, A Junior Counselor in Battell, has a number of Jewish students on his hall and said that these students found it 'inappropriate... that [the Christian] religion was being shoved in their faces.'"

"'This was the first weekend for first-years on campus,' said Jen Masiak '01, a Junior Counselor in Stewart. ' The first impression [of Middlebury] they got was religious material left outside their doors. The [method of distribution] was supposed to be non-confrontational, but for people of different religions, this isn't the message they got.'"