From a few minutes of internet searching, these are some things that I found out:
Daisaku Ikeda is the founder of Soka. Here’s the brief bio from U. of Minnesota which granted him an honorary doctorate which mentions him as a recipient of various peace/humanitarian awards, including from the UN: Daisaku Ikeda | University Awards & Honors which generally makes things appear to be on the up-and-up.
These are Soka’s mission & values, which sound admirable:
Given that “cult” is commonly defined as “a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious”, the difference between a cult and a religion may be a personal viewpoint on whether it is “unorthodox” or “spurious”.
So it depends on how one views Soka Gakkai International in this context.
Yeah, that’s why I was careful to use hedging language. I’m not too familiar with that religious movement. I am not personally calling it a cult, because I don’t know enough about it.
There have been former faculty and students who have spoken out about some of the things they didn’t like there. The complaints differ from the typical complaints about colleges.
One common complaint seems to be that domestic students don’t realize what they are getting into when they go there. Other colleges that are run by high-demand religions seem to be pretty transparent about their rules, intentions, etc. Students choose to attend with eyes wide open. That seems like it might not be the case for some students and employees at Soka.
Here is one person’s account. And yes, it’s just one person:
I used to drive by the campus every Sunday morning (taking my daughter to hockey nearby). I never saw anyone on campus. I know most campuses are quiet on Sundays, but this was beyond that. Not a soul out and about. No one walking, jogging, playing sports. No one. Beautiful, modern campus, but empty.
A front-page article in the New York Times covered Soka’s nascency. At that time the school was portrayed as having essentially conventional aspirations:
Good idea for a thread, AustenNut. I first heard of Soka on College Confidential 4 years ago. I have never met anyone else who has even heard of it, except someone who had reason to drive by the campus (as mentioned by someone else upthread). Since then I’ve found that it is occasionally on “lists” here but there’s generally very little CC traffic, and I can’t remember seeing very much (or any) from parents of students, current students, or former students. Not even many or any threads where the OP has it under consideration. And all this despite a solid USNWR spot (driven by endowment I’m sure). I hope some firsthand information lands here!
Here’s an interesting and very comprehensive thread from a past faculty member on Soka Univeristy - definitely shady.
reddit/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/s1ozi3/a_former_faculty_members_take_on_soka_university/
can’t post links for some reason but just add a .com after the “reddit”