alt.religion.scientology
Scientology official admits ASI program a "generation plant"

Describing the St. Louis, Mo. Applied Scholastics school as "a generation plant", and a "base from which we can change the course of culture and create a new and literate civlization," high-ranking Scientology executive Karen Hollander put an end to any doubt over the real agenda of Scientology's Applied Scholastics International program while speaking before the International Association of Scientologists Patrons Ball earlier this year.

[...]

Ms. [Karen] Hollander stated that in order to get Ron's study tech in, we go directly to the educators themselves, for they are, in the main, people who genuinely want to teach and want their students to acquire the tools for learning.

But to crack the education crisis worldwide, Ms. Hollander pointed out, "requires a stable base for the emanation of study technology on a global scale, a place where we can train those who go out and inject that tech into society at all levels. A base from which we can change the course of the culture and create a new and literate civilization on Earth."

And that stable base is Applied Scholastics International Spanish Lake in St. Louis, Missouri.

It was first announced in October 2001 as the future home of Applied Scholastics International, the next "generation plant" in our planetary salvage crusade. It is now a reality, our base for the most extensive training and dissemination of Ron's study tech ever.

On the facing page are photographs and a short tour through the spectacular new facility.

It is from this new launch pad we will spearhead a planetary assault on illiteracy.

Thanks to Scientologists' support of the IAS, our Spanish Lake campus became an official reality with its Grand Opening in July! Led by New OT VIII and Chief Executive Officer Bennetta Slaughter and a team of OTs, including ten currently auditing on New OT VII, Applied Scholastics International Spanish Lake is truly at the forefront of reversing the dwindling education spiral.

[emphasis and outside link added by studytech.org]

Click here for the full text of International Scientology News bulletin (courtesy Google Groups)

The quote appears in the International Scientology News #25, which was published circa August 2003. The briefing letter is sent out to thousands of Scientologist, and includes reports of legal "wins" and public relations coups for which the church claims credit during the previous year. It also contains a full summary of speeches and announcements made at the Patrons Ball, a glittering event held annually for public Scientologists.

Also in attendance at the event were high-ranking church officials, including Religious Technology Centre chairman David Miscavige, the church's most senior executive, and Mike Rinder, Executive Director of the Church of Scientology International Office of Special Affairs.

Hollander's comments may well come back to haunt Applied Scholastics officials in St. Louis, who have faced questions from the public and the press over the program's links to Scientology since establishing the St. Louis beachhead last year.

In a St. Louis Post Dispatch article written in March 2002, just after the property for the school had been purchased, Slaughter denied the existence of any link between the church and the school program, and claimed that ASI would hire employees regardless of their religious persuasion:

Asked about the relationship between the Church of Scientology and Applied Scholastics, Slaughter says there is none.

"Obviously they've been very kind to the organization in terms of support," she said. "But we get our employees from the same place every secular corporation does. We advertise in the newspaper."

In a later article published on July 25, 2002, ASI CEO Bennetta Slaughter told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the program was "separate" from the Church of Scientology:

"We are strictly an educational organization," said Slaughter. "We are not part of the church," she said.

"We are tax-exempt. We use the materials that Ron Hubbard researched and codified. And we get results."

But Hollander's frank - and very public - admission that the real purpose of the program is to "inject the tech into society at all levels" were made at an event not only endorsed, but actually organized by the International Association of Scientologists, and attended by senior Scientology offiicals. That might make it difficult for Ms. Slaughter and her "team of OTs" to argue that her views are not representative of the church's official position.