A group the Otago University Students' Association says is identical to a ''cult'' the association dissociated itself from last year has had its application to affiliate to OUSA rejected.
OUSA president Caitlin Barlow-Groome said the students' association refused to affiliate to Save the Earth from A to Z (ASEZ), which appeared to have the same members as the Elohim Bible Academy.
''We decided not to affiliate the club as they had not addressed previous concerns OUSA had when the club was disaffiliated last year,'' she said.
''So far, there have been no complaints about the club that I am aware of.''
The Elohim Bible Academy was last year reported to be a sub-group of a South Korean religious sect the World Mission Society Church of God, which believes its Korean founder Ahn Sahng-Hong is an incarnation of Christ and which has been described as a cult.
In 2017 student magazine Critic Te Arohi reported criticism was directed at the group for its ''forceful'' nature when door-knocking, presenting false information and pressuring people into uncomfortable situations.
The ASEZ website describes the group as ''an international group consisting of university student volunteers from the Church of God all around the world''.
ASEZ president Lisa Shin said in Critic this week there were ''some misunderstandings'' about the club and it had nothing to do with bible studies.
''It's just a volunteering club co-operating with UN Sustainable Development Goals.''
A university spokeswoman said yesterday no complaints about the ASEZ group had been made to her knowledge, and university chaplain the Rev Greg Hughes also said he had not heard anything about the ASEZ group.
However, last year the ''behaviour and intrusiveness'' of the Elohim Bible Study group worried the wider Christian community on campus, he said.
Religious studies expert Prof Peter Lineham, of Massey University, advised anyone targeted by a religious group to get a clear picture of the group's history and origins and what it expected of them, including financial demands.
