Upon opening the Drier building, MUM required all meditating students to practice the Transcendental Meditation program there twice daily, without seeking any scientific evidence of its benefits. The students were forced to do so, on penalty of failing the required course, called "Research In Consciousness." One student nearly lost Consciousness permanently.
In April 2000, within a few weeks after the opening of the Drier Building, numerous students started to report sickness from being in this building. Several students complained about the air quality, but their requests to meditate elsewhere were declined.
One student, from Africa, developed an acute case of tuberculosis and had to be rushed to the University of Iowa Hospital Center, over an hour away. He remained in the hospital for weeks of intensive care. Fortunately there was a scientifically oriented institution in Iowa City. MUM promotes "instant cure technologies" but has no hospital for students.
The student was not prone to sickness, but was athletic and active in student activities. He had attended years of classes in other non-Sthapatya-Vedic buildings at MUM with no ill effects. It was only until he had to go into the Sthapatya-Vedic building that the tuberculosis erupted. In addition to the pain of the illness, he has lost over a month of precious time for studies and enjoyment of his college career.
MUM continues to tout the "advantages" of Sthapatya-Vedic buildings, ignoring
how a number of Fairfield businesses have experienced air quality problems and have gone
bankrupt in such buildings. The University has plans to spend millions to convert every
building on campus to be Sthapatya-Vedic.
See: http://mum.edu/reconstruction/demolition.html
This would include tearing down such "unlucky" buildings as the historic Carnegie Building, a campus landmark, and one of the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. The campus lake, pictured in MUM promotional materials, was covered over last year as it was "inauspicious" and now is a useless, muddy field.
Inauspicious influences would stay off campus once the southern entrances were blocked off, they said years ago. Then a boy on his bicycle crashed into the improperly marked chain fence and became paralyzed. Luck would come MUM's way once the lake was filled, they said. Enrollment declined. Everything would be wonderful when the east entrance road was built. MUM had to cancel academic programs to meet its expenses, leaving some international students stranded.
The MUM Chapel doors have been sealed shut as they face in the south east direction, considered "inauspicious." Christian services which were held there for years were discontinued. Students are required to enter buildings from the east side, which often means going all the way around to the other side. MUM asserts to the world and the Accreditation Board that it is scientifically based. Yet there is not even one published scientific research article after 10 years of promising the benefits of Sthapatya-Ved. Hundreds of thousands of precious dollars that could be spent improving academic resources or professor salaries are spent on "rectification" reconstruction and wasteful destruction of solid and functional buildings the campus.
Students are basically required to believe in the benefits of Sthapatya-Ved, despite evidence to the contrary. It is an integral topic of nearly every course from Art to Physics. Students are graded on their ability to draw parallels between academic disciplines and Sthapatya-Ved. Opposing opinions are discouraged, published scientific research is absent and deemed unimportant, and injuries suffered from Sthapatya-Ved are swept under the table. People are often say how much better they feel in the Drier building, mainly because everyone else is saying it ("mood making"), or that the other buildings are in such a state of disrepair.
Scientifically-minded students and professors have no choice but to participate in the superstitious practices, and go the long way around to enter buildings. It draws into question the entire body of TM research, and is literally destroying the once beautiful campus. Once a promising institution, MUM has stagnated ever since it has strayed from its scientific orientation of the 1970-1980's when enrollment was at its peak. MUM barely survives only through very dedicated faculty, staff, and international students working for far below average compensation.
For students and staff who have been brainwashed, the Drier Building may indeed be a dryer. Every student is required to take at least one course in this unhealthy building. But, hopefully it will not become the "Dier" building.
Submitted by concerned MUM student (name withheld upon request)
From World Health Organization web site: http://www.who.int/gtb
Among adults, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death due to a single infectious agent. In the developing world it causes more than 25% of avoidable adult deaths. Successful TB control efforts are of paramount importance if this epidemic is to be halted.
MUMbo-jumbo continues...
Despite all this, only weeks later, the MUM executive vice-president says "These buildings actually promote the creativity, clarity of thinking, health, and well-being of the people living and working in them," Mr. Pearson said. "Our students have already reported wonderful experiences of clearer thinking and greater ease of learning in the Dreier Building."
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