Andrew Cohen, Shunning, Maharishi U., Book, Legal, CVLT
Arkansas Times: Cult leader's name on Little Rock public art outlasts tenure of city official who said it would be replaced
Brittany Nichols, former marketing manager for the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department, has accepted a job with Metroplan.
This tidbit of news flew under our radar when the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first published it last week, but we bring it up now as Nichols' role at the department informs our ongoing, if sporadic, coverage of a strange quote attributed to a cult leader on a piece of public art in Little Rock.
The quote is attributed to a man named Andrew Cohen, and it is engraved on a basalt column that stands in Inspiration Plaza, the newest piece of public art installed in Riverfront Park in downtown Little Rock.
Learn more here about Cohen's sinister activities leading a cult called EnlightenNext, and read a statement from Nichols assuring us that Cohen's name would be replaced with "Anonymous."
A lot has changed since we pressed the department for comment on the bizarre quote in July. Donald Trump began his second presidential term. David Lynch is gone. Nichols works at Metroplan.
Andrew Cohen's name, though, has been a rock-solid constant through a period of intense and rapid change.
Will it outlast the parks department's next marketing manager? Time will tell.
When we last checked in with the parks department in December, staff were still looking for a contractor that could work on basalt and did not have a timeline for replacing Cohen's name.
Little Rock Communications Director Aaron Sadler confirmed yesterday that the city's plan is still to remove Cohen's name and added that it had been covered "until such time as it can be removed."
Because Inspiration Plaza is a short walk from the Arkansas Times' office, we've periodically checked in on the status of the quote since our first story ran last summer. In December, after we asked the city when it planned to address the matter, we discovered Cohen's name had been covered with a piece of tape. The tape disappeared shortly afterwards. Following our recent conversation with Sadler, the name was re-covered with tape.
Stop The Shunning: Avoid This Rookie Mistake If You Have Doubts (and 8 More Tips)
"A sicko from New Jersey allegedly took part in a neo-Nazi child-porn ring whose members groomed children online and exhorted them to send self-produced, sexually-explicit videos, federal authorities said.
Colin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, about 50 miles west of Atlantic City, was a member of CVLT, an online cabal of like-minded creeps who worked as a team "to entice and coerce children to self-produce child pornography on servers associated with and run by" the group, investigators said.
Walker, who has been charged with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, could face life in prison if convicted.Walker — who used handles including "CVLLEN," "ghoblins," and "WRATH" — coerced his victims into engaging in increasingly demeaning acts online, "including cutting and eating their own hair, drinking their urine, punching themselves, calling themselves racial slurs, and using razor blades to carve CVLT members' names into their skin," according to court documents.The self-made kiddie porn "sometimes included use of pets or other children, or insertion of foreign objects like knives or cacti into their genitals."
They also sent their victims violent video footage of animals being tortured to death and women being raped, the indictment alleged.
During the grooming, the men used "Nazi symbols and language" and shared bondage, S&M and "gore child pornography" with their young victims.
The Guardian: Trouble in transcendental paradise as murder rocks the Maharishi University (Archive, May 2004)
'The large golden domes of the Maharishi University are an incongruous landmark for a sleepy Midwestern town close to the Mississippi river.
Even more unlikely are the scenes that take place beneath them as students from across the globe gather twice a day to meditate and send out cosmic vibes of spiritual energy that they believe can heal a stress-stricken world.
But now a murder and allegations of a cover-up have shattered the tranquillity of the college and of the town of Fairfield, Iowa.
The killing of one student by another has threatened the future of not only what Maharishi disciples call 'a safe, harmonious campus', but also undermines the credibility of the one-time guru of the Beatles and spiritual leader to Hollywood celebrities including film-maker David Lynch and actress Heather Graham.Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the bearded purveyor of world peace, heads a movement of tens of thousands of people who believe their brew of transcendental meditation and yogic flying - a kind of bouncing which devotees claim is akin to levitation - sends out powerful vibes of harmony that can end conflict across the planet.
In the east-facing buildings of the 272-acre Maharishi University, some 800 students mix a traditional undergraduate education with a heavy dose of meditation and yogic flying.
But in the early evening of Monday 1 March an incident occurred which critics allege makes nonsense of the notion that meditation can bring world peace.
At 7pm Shuvender Sem, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania, sat down in the university dining hall with fellow students to eat his organic vegetarian dinner. Suddenly Sem stood up, took a knife from his pocket and plunged it into the heart of 19-year-old Levi Butler.
In the ensuing melee, Sem stabbed Butler at least three more times before he was restrained. The police were called and Sem, said to be extremely calm, gave himself up. Butler was taken to Jefferson County Hospital, where the first-year student from California was pronounced dead.
The death left many in the college in a state of shock - if yogic flying brings harmony how could one of their own kill in their midst? And as further details of that day emerge, more serious questions are being raised about the Maharishi's theories.
The knife Sem used belonged to the dean, Joel Wysong. Earlier that day, in a class called Teaching for Enlightenment, Sem attacked another student, John Killian, stabbing him in the face with a pen. Killian needed seven stitches. Sem was taken to the dean's apartment where he was supposed to be under supervision. But it was there that he stole the knife before going to the dining hall.
Sem has been charged with aggravated assault for the first attack and first-degree murder for the second. But because the university authorities did not report the earlier crime, this has led to the allegation that they intended to cover up the violence.
Critics of the Maharishi - including former students and staff and Fairfield residents - have been inundating the local newspaper with calls and emails. They allege that the movement strives to prevent negative publicity that might halt donations from its wealthy alumni. Some claim incidents have been hushed up in the past, although no hard evidence has emerged.
The university defended itself by saying it was not its role to bring criminal charges and that this is the first such tragedy to happen on a campus claiming to be the most crime-free in America.
Some members of Butler's family are now considering suing the university, which could have devastating repercussions for its international reputation.
Butler's uncle, Benjamin Howard, posted an email which said: 'I am terribly angry that this organisation places its public appearance above the safety of its students. The earlier link "Safe Harmonious Campus" from the [university] web page reveals one major selling point for the university. Of course an administrator wouldn't wish to call police when something violent happens on campus. It would ruin that unblemished record of 30 years with no crime. If a lawsuit is necessary to teach this campus a lesson, then so be it.'
The Maharishi himself is reported to have blamed the violence on US foreign policy. Dr Craig Pearson, executive vice-president of Maharishi University, said: 'Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has made one comment regarding this event. He said that this is an aspect of the violence we see throughout society, including the violence that our country is perpetrating in other countries.'
But the most serious criticism levelled against the movement is that transcendental meditation may exacerbate existing psychological problems in students.
Dr Kai Druhl taught physics at the university for 13 years. He has since left to teach at a college 20 miles away after becoming disenchanted with the movement."
"A settlement was expected Thursday in the federal lawsuit over the stabbing death of a student at the hands of a former Landisville man at a meditation-based school in Iowa.
Shuvender Sem, a 1997 Lancaster Country Day School graduate, stabbed to death Levi Butler in the dining hall of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, on March 1, 2004.
Sem, who had stabbed another student earlier the same day, was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The federal lawsuit filed in February 2006 on behalf of Butler's estate accused the school, founded by Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and requiring twice-daily transcendental meditation, of gross negligence for not preventing the student's death.
Steve Eckley, an attorney representing the estate, said Butler's family is satisfied with the terms of the confidential settlement, which were reached late Wednesday night. The terms still needed to be approved by one official with the university's insurance company.
Trial in the case had been scheduled to begin Monday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines.
In the lawsuit, Butler's estate said the 24-year-old Sem was a paranoid schizophrenic with a long history of violent assault. It noted that the same day Butler was killed, Sem attacked another student, John Killian, by stabbing him in the face with a ball-point pen.
"Had defendants followed their own stated policy of reporting all serious crime to local authorities, Shuvender Sem would have been arrested after the attack on John Killian, and Levi Butler would be alive today," the lawsuit said.
After the attack on Killian, the lawsuit said Sem was placed in the custody of Joel Wysong, the school's dean of men.
The suit claimed, though, that Wysong left Sem alone for a time and reported hearing Sem rummaging through kitchen drawers. That's where Sem was believed to have found the knife used to kill Butler, of Riverside County, Calif.
In 2004, Sem's father, Surinder Kumar Sem, also of Landisville, said his son is a diagnosed schizophrenic in denial about his illness and not regularly taking his medication."
New Autobiography Gives Insight into Maharishi Murder
It is a story that could only be written by one person. A compelling autobiography that not only pushes the boundaries of sanity, it takes readers on a frightening voyage to meet it face-to-face. "Murder and Misunderstanding; One Man's Escape from Insanity" (ISBN-13: 978-1479256969) is the story of Shuvender Sem, who on March 1, 2004 became known as "The Maharishi Murderer."
The murder took place in Fairfield, Iowa, on the campus of a university that prided itself on non-violence. The Maharishi University of Management used a variety of techniques towards its non-violent goals including twice-daily use of Transcendental Meditation. It was to no small degree that this setting put the murder in the national spotlight.
In one moment Sem was a college student. In the next he was "The Maharishi Murderer." Shuvender killed freshman Levi Butler without provocation on the campus by stabbing him four times in the chest with a paring knife. The murder took place following an incident earlier in the day when Sem stabbed a student with a pen. That previous incident led to the student getting seven stitches to his face.
Deemed competent to stand trial, the judge ruled he was "not guilty by reason of insanity" at the request of both the defense and the prosecution. Against popular belief, NGRI is an extremely rare plea, used in less than one percent of criminal cases. A not guilty result is even more uncommon, occurring just one-quarter of one percent of the time.
Now, after years of psychotropic medications and intense therapy, Shuvender is telling his story of schizophrenia in his autobiography, "Murder and Misunderstanding; One Man's Escape from Insanity." It is not only an extremely rare look into the mind of a killer from his own perspective, but it is also a deeply personal story that explores the darkest, most grim places of the mind.
"Our mental health system is broken. We need to fix this before more crimes are committed," says Sem.
In his book, Shuvender tells of his relationship with his father, and the events that led to that day on campus. He describes his struggle with, and eventual escape from this misunderstood illness. It is a story of recognition and realization. A story of redemption desired, and hope delivered. It is a book written to serve as a beacon for those with schizophrenia and their families, by a man who was held in its strongest grips, and managed to escape.
Shuvender Sem, or Shubi as he is known, now speaks publicly about his experience with schizophrenia in the hopes of helping others. He is available for presentations and Q&A sessions for law enforcement, mental health groups, attorney associations, academic institutions and others who may feel they can benefit from his story.
The self-told story of Shuvender Sem, "Murder and Misunderstanding; One Man's Escape from Insanity" is available at http://www.ShuvenderSem.com/ . The book is available in paperback; as well as Kindle, iPad and Nook digital editions.
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