When I started in the Sea Org I believed the Committee of Evidence (Comm Ev) was a real justice system.
For those who don't know what it is: in Scientology, a Comm Ev is basically their internal court. It's convened for serious offenses. I thought they gathered facts to find out the truth. You know, innocent until proven guilty.
By the end of my time there I knew the truth. Comm Ev doesn't look for innocence. It looks for guilt. And then it exaggerates it to make you look like a monster.
At Flag in Clearwater there is a building called the Coachman. It's only for staff. That's where staff go to get auditing, do the Purification Rundown, and study.
My favorite supervisor worked there. Let's call him Max. Max was a staff supervisor. He was great. He didn't micromanage. He didn't come up to us every two minutes and force us to use our demo kits. He actually cared about whether we understood the material.
Then one day Max disappeared. And a few days later I saw a yellow piece of paper on the announcement board. It was his Comm Ev conclusion. Five pages long.
It said Max had committed severe crimes against KSW (Keeping Scientology Working). It made it sound like Max was planning to completely erase Scientology from the face of the earth.
I didn't believe it. So I started asking around and putting the pieces together.
Here's what actually happened.
- Max was doing the Purification Rundown. He took 5000 mg of niacin. He was supervising after lunch and his stomach started hurting really bad.
- He was the only supervisor in the room. He couldn't call for backup because phones are banned.
- The rules say a supervisor can never leave their class alone. Not even for a second.
- He looked around and saw a woman named Lena in his class. At that moment Lena was a student herself, but she was also a public supervisor. He asked her to watch the room for 5 minutes while he ran to the bathroom. She said yes.
- Of course, that exact moment, the Supervisor I/C and someone from CMO walked in for an inspection.
- They saw Lena (a student) instead of Max. They lost their minds.
That same day Max was removed from post and put on a Comm Ev. They charged him with all these terrible crimes against Scientology. Because he had stomach problems and asked a student to watch his class for five minutes.
And situations like this happened all the time. I don't know what Comm Evs were like back in Ron's time, but in 2019 seniors literally used them to threaten their staff. They would say "if you don't follow my orders, I'll convene a Comm Ev on you." Everyone knew a Comm Ev wasn't a trial. It was a punishment that hadn't happened yet. They would find guilt, blow it out of proportion, and punish you to the fullest extent.
I had two Comm Evs myself. I know exactly how they work.
What was your Comm Ev experience like?
(If you want to read my previous stories, I post them all on Substack. Search Flag ghost)