Alpha Omega (AO), a religious organization at Swarthmore, portrays itself as a nonsectarian Christian club. According to its description on the college’s club listing, the organization invites students to “read, discuss and test the Bible for themselves to understand what it means to live following Jesus.” It is mostly known by the larger community for the tendency of its members to regularly approach students, sometimes with offers of free food and often with an open invitation to join high-energy, faith-based events on and off campus.
AO does not publicize its ties to the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), a national decades-old campus-based religious movement long marred by controversy, including reports of brainwashing, sleep deprivation, financial, religious, and sexual abuse, and other behaviors associated with cults and other high-control groups.
A member of the leadership of Swarthmore’s interdenominational Christian Fellowship (SCF), who wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, expressed concern that Swarthmore College was not appropriately addressing the potential threat posed by the group. In their experience, AO has deliberately targeted first-year students for evangelization, as well as Christian students who are not well established in their faith.
The student said they knew people who had switched from their previous Christian affiliation to attending services with AO. “They’re good at recruiting people,” they said. “It’s easy to scare people, particularly people who aren’t theologically sound. They text people, and if you don’t have the ability to explain your theology, you’re going to get scared. Then they offer you the solution to your fear.”
The student’s friends who joined AO quickly became wrapped up in the organization. The group offers up to four multi-hour events a week, including trips to nearby schools to attend events at their AO chapters, as well as church services.
“People feel pressure to go to all the events, if you’re into something that promotes fear, you’ll be afraid of the consequences of not going,” the student said. “You’ll be afraid of damnation.” The student was particularly concerned that students who attend AO events are unaware of the nature of the organization, particularly its affiliation with the national organization known as the ICOC.
Swarthmore’s chapter of AO regularly attends the Greater Philadelphia Church of Christ (GPCC), which did not respond to multiple email and phone requests for comment. The GPCC is listed as a branch of the ICOC on the church locator of Disciples Today, which describes itself as “the communications channel of the International Churches of Christ.” Disciples Today declined to comment on this story and directed The Phoenix to contact its local branch of the ICOC.
The dropdown “Ministry” menu on the GPCC’s website contains a sub-element titled “Campus,” which does not have a web page associated with it and instead links to the Instagram account for the Philadelphia area AO. Swarthmore’s chapter of AO also links to this broader account in its bio.
Leadership from Swarthmore’s Chapter of Alpha Omega declined to provide comment or be interviewed for this story.
A Decades-Long History
According to an investigation by the Simmons Voice, the ICOC has been using the name “Alpha Omega” to brand some of its campus ministries since at least 2015. The ICOC grew rapidly in the 1980s and ’90s through its aggressive proselytizing on college campuses. By 2000, the ICOC had been banned at over 39 colleges and universities, mostly for violating rules against harassment and solicitation but also amidst reports of more serious abuse. A current and complete tally of institutions where the ICOC is banned is complicated by the church’s international reach and frequent name changes.
Certainly among the institutions where the ICOC is banned, however, are Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, Boston University, Northeastern University, Marquette University, the College of the Holy Cross, Smith College, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of New South Wales. Despite sometimes using different names, the ICOC has maintained certain core elements, including an insistence that members are baptized into the ICOC, regardless of any previous baptisms, and use of a mentorship system known as “discipling.”
The Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, a scholarly encyclopedia for modern religion, defines the ICOC’s discipling practice as a “nonvoluntary system whereby leaders paired older, more mature members with younger, less experienced members. Pairing is invariably of the same gender, and ‘disciplers’ are in daily contact with their ‘discipleship partners.’”
The Historical Dictionary also referenced the intense nature of the demands the group makes on students’ time. “[T]he organization has aroused comment largely because of the demands made on its members, who are required to tithe, to study the Bible intently, to attend meetings during the week as well as on Sundays, and to evangelize.”
The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, another scholarly index, goes further in its description, noting that professors often take issue with the negative impact of increasing ICOC Church attendance on students’ grades:
“Evangelists will learn their targets’ class schedules and wait for them after class and eventually invite them to a church activity, often without disclosing who is sponsoring the event.”
“You’re going to get scared. Then they offer you the solution to your fear.”
An ICOC Spring Retreat
While the stance of the ICOC or AO on homosexual leadership is not immediately clear, its attitudes on the LGBT community are more visible. “Pure and Simple,” a ministry offered by the ICOC, provides “guidance for Christian men and women struggling with homosexuality and unwanted same-sex attractions.” An article from 2011 on a prominent ICOC website describes the story of a man who had “indulged himself in the gay life,” but through God, left homosexuality, and subsequently married a woman.
Other religious groups at Swarthmore, including SCF, have been prevented from receiving Student Budget Committee (SBC) allocations due to their parent organization’s longstanding doctrinal prohibitions on openly homosexual leadership. The Swarthmore chapter of AO is chartered and receives funding from the SBC: a total of $2,310 for the Spring ’25 semester.
$840 of that allocation paid for students from Swarthmore to attend the “ACR Spring 2025 Retreat” from March 21 to 23. Materials from the retreat were obtained by The Phoenix, including audio recordings of four of the presentations as well as early and final drafts of notes used to give one of these presentations. These materials frequently refer to “discipling” as a necessary process through which younger members are set on the right course of action, and caution against withholding information from one’s mentors. This was particularly evident in the presentation given about “Dating like Jesus.”
The presentation made clear that members of the church were only to date other “disciples.” A draft of the presentation notes for “Dating like Jesus” reads, “This goes without saying- if they’re not a disciple- do not date them. Dunk em and date em.” “Dunk” here refers to the ICOC’s practice of baptism by immersion.
The draft of the presentation also suggested that dating those outside of the ICOC might compromise a student’s spiritual journey:
“When you are in a relationship with someone, is it possible for them to have no influence on who you become in that relationship? NO! If you decided to date like a disciple, then your highest priority is to glorify God with it, to become more like Jesus. There are huge advantages in dating within a community of the same biblical standards. If the heart is deceitful, can you really be the one to decide if they are a Christian or not?”
It also stressed that students should get approval for aspects of their relationship, including the particulars of their intimate lives, with older members, and espoused a rigid culture of purity. A draft of “Dating like Jesus” lays out the expectations explicitly: “Don’t be in the same private residence together, no kissing on the lips, don’t talk after midnight, no sin.”
One presenter, identified by The Phoenix as a leader at the Cincinnati Church of Christ, spoke about a past moment in his romantic relationship. He had shared a hammock with the woman he was dating, and was resistant to sharing that fact with his “Discipler.” He used the example to caution students that any urge to withhold information was itself an indicator of bad conduct.
“Even if you are already doing something and are confident in it, run it by some more mature disciples and get their input,” the presentation notes read. “If you don’t want to, then that’s either a sign of pride or impurity, and you should even more so talk to them about it.”
The notes also recommended members seek out romantic partners who are “trainable and eager to grow.”
Members of the Cincinnati Church of Christ identified as present in the audio recordings and who authored the notes quoted by The Phoenix did not respond to email requests for comment.
Attempts to contact the Cincinnati Church of Christ by phone were unsuccessful.
The notes also recommended members seek out romantic partners who are “trainable and eager to grow.”
College Rules
According to archived versions of the Swarthmore Clubs and Activities website, AO has been officially listed as an organization on campus since January 2023. Its continued presence on campus could be in part due to the school’s relative lack of guidelines for campus groups, particularly for religious organizations.
An analysis of instances of American universities banning or restricting chapters of the group suggests that the ICOC is often restricted when it violates specific rules regulating the behavior and nature of on-campus organizations. Sometimes the relevant rules pertain specifically to religious organizations, which in many cases are regulated by a separate body. Swarthmore lacks many of these same regulations, having few rules that explicitly address clubs on campus.
The rules for on-campus groups at Swarthmore do not go much further than the rules for individual students outlined in the Code of Conduct. Chartered organizations – those receiving funding from the Student Activities Fund (SAF) dispersed through the SBC – are also required to attest annually to a non-discrimination agreement. According to Director of Student Activities Rebecca Weintraub-Barth, this requirement ensures every student has the opportunity to participate in clubs, particularly because students’ own SAF payments fund those clubs.
Clubs that are found to have violated the Code of Conduct, which itself contains a lengthy section concerning discrimination, can face sanctions just like individual students. This has recently happened in the case of Swarthmore’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). While SJP has not been found responsible for conduct violations, Swarthmore has placed the club under interim suspension after the sit-in in Parrish Hall with the revised Code of Conduct’s controversial interim provisions.
The Code of Conduct contains two sections that might be considered applicable specifically to student groups: the college’s prohibition on hazing, and its lengthy but infrequently-enforced rules on flyers and posters in public spaces. Outside of the Code of Conduct, Swarthmore’s nonprofit status restricts how student political organizations can legally utilize campus resources for political campaigns.
This relative lack of regulation differs from many of the educational institutions where the ICOC has been banned, including Northeastern University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University. Northeastern, for example, has robust policies for on-campus organizations, including an additional set of policies for religious organizations, maintained by their Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service. Rabbi Michael Ramberg, an advisor at the Swarthmore Interfaith Center (IFC), confirmed in an email to The Phoenix that while the IFC works with religious organizations on campus, it does not regulate them.
“The Interfaith Center advises student religious groups and doesn’t have any formal authority over any aspect of them,” Ramberg said. “If the group is chartered, then they have to abide by SBC/SGO and OSE policies.”
Specific religious regulations were the basis on which Northeastern banned AO and the ICOC from their campus, based on the university’s description of the organizations. These elements include “Approaching individuals who have not themselves initiated contact,” “Clusters of behaviors commonly held to be indicative of cults or destructive religions,” and “Targeting people of another faith to convince them to leave that faith.”
Other policies refer to more extreme behavior, such as harassment and abuse, both of which the ICOC has frequently been alleged to have engaged in. However, in the case of Swarthmore, these would likely already be covered under relevant portions of the Code of Conduct.
The statement announcing the ban of AO and the ICOC on Northeastern’s campus also stated that the group makes “inordinate claims on students’ time, privacy, and freedom.” Vanderbilt similarly requires religious organizations to register with the University’s Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. It also has rules on solicitation, which note that “Specifically, persons are strongly discouraged from approaching individuals whom they do not know in order to recruit them for religious reasons.”
Registered religious organizations at Boston University must comply with guidelines requiring, among other things, that “groups will clearly identify their identity and lineage,” a requirement not present for any student organization at Swarthmore. Northeastern similarly asks that “All literature, spoken communications, and events must clearly and accurately identify the religious nature of the event.” No such requirement exists at Swarthmore College. Additionally, Swarthmore also has no solicitation policy that applies to students.
In a statement to The Phoenix, Senior Associate Dean Nathan Miller outlined the college’s knowledge of the group.
“According to our records, Swarthmore’s Alpha Omega chapter is relatively new and does not list any affiliations other than the Philadelphia chapter of Alpha Omega.”
He declined to comment on whether the college was aware of AO’s affiliation with the ICOC or of the extensive history of allegations against the ICOC. He stated that no direct complaints have been made against the group.
“We have also not received any reports that have or would have resulted in the group receiving warnings, reprimands, disciplinary action, or would otherwise require them to alter its activities on campus.”
However, Miller noted that AO’s presence on campus had not gone unnoticed.
“The Interfaith Center was made aware of some student concerns regarding Alpha Omega, though no students contacted them directly,” Miller said. “The concerns apparently related to some of the leadership of a church that members of the student group sometimes attend. The IFC has noticed a distinction between the student group and that church. Unfortunately, the IFC’s ability to address negative student interactions off campus is limited.”
While Miller declined to comment on the college’s apparent lack of restrictions on many club activities associated with AO, he wrote:
“The College affirms its commitment to religious freedom and freedom of expression. All student groups and chartered organizations are expected to adhere to the College’s Student Code of Conduct.”
