Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) headed up the much-publicized "Do you agree with Sam" campaign this week, culminating in a CCC outreach event Thursday evening.

The event centered around Sam Leopold, a Miami University junior.

The two-week spiritual outreach began last week as CCC members papered Miami's campus with posters, table tents, and banners and launched the Web site www.doyouagreewithsam.com.

On Monday, around 250 people on campus began wearing blue and white shirts with the message "I agree with Sam," according to April Cook, a 2007 Miami graduate working full time for CCC.

The identity of Sam was revealed in an advertisement in The Miami Student Tuesday.

"The goal is to show God's love through my story and show what Christianity is, but I'm just one of so many stories of God working in people's lives," Leopold said.

Leopold said he knew going into the campaign that it might stir up controversy among students.

"People don't always agree with the statement that Jesus Christ is the only way to know God," Leopold said. "It is a very controversial statement and I want to give people the chance to respond to that. It's not about me forcing people to believe something. I don't know what kind of life that would be, living a life believing something people have forced upon you. I can only state what I know to be true and live that out to the best of my ability."

First-year Heather Weaver said she created an alternate Facebook.com group called "Do you agree with Heather?" after she received negative response to her posts on the "Do you agree with Sam? Post why or why not!" group.

"They were more interested in stating that their belief is the only correct one rather than listening to someone who doesn't believe exactly what they believe," Weaver said.

Weaver said that while the beliefs of the "I Am Sam" campaign is correct for some people, it is not correct for everyone.

"Truth isn't absolute, it's individual," Weaver said. "Everyone's one truth is different, it's personal."

Weaver added that her group is based on spreading acceptance and tolerance across campus.

"It's more important in a world where discrimination and hate crimes are hugely prevalent to express a message of tolerance," Weaver said.

Throughout the week, Leopold has spoken with many students about the campaign.

"I've had conversations with people who don't agree, which is a good thing because it makes them think about their belief systems and how to communicate with people and I think that's great too," Leopold said.

According to Amy Greenbaum, executive director of the Hillel Foundation, the advisers of student religious organizations on campus, including Hillel and CCC, previously signed an agreement to facilitate respectful communication between the groups.

"This agreement helps us facilitate respect and dialogue among one another and it is my hope that all organizations live up to the agreement they signed," Greenbaum said.

Greenbaum said that part of the agreement is that students have the right to disengage from a witnessing conversation.

Greenbaum said that since she is Jewish, she disagrees with the theology of the "I Am Sam" campaign. However, she did add that organizations have the right to put on whatever type of programming they like.

"I think that one of the blessings of living in the United States of America is that all of us have the right to freely practice religion, to freely speak our minds, etc.," Greenbaum said. "I think that that's an important American value and that means that an organization, especially in a university setting, has the right to plan programs for themselves as they wish."

However, Greenbaum said that she personally found fault with the campaign.

"It seems to me that there may be some elements of the 'I Am Sam' campaign that did not respect the idea that people can believe what they choose to believe," Greenbaum said.

Senior Jenny Jacob, president of the Association of Jewish Students, was upset that Sam touched on the fact that he comes from a Jewish family.

"I feel that faith is an individual thing, but the fact that he's using his Jewish background as a catalyst to convert people is unfortunate," Jacob said.

Jacob also said that the advertising used in The Miami Student was misleading, saying that it is against university policy to not include an organization name when advertising.

"It's almost like they were tricking people," Jacob said. "If you're going to do something like this, be proud of it."

Angie Chan, co-president of Interfaith Circle, said that CCC used its presence on campus to advertise well and that the event was ultimately beneficial.

"It's beneficial for me to come here as a student who's curious about learning about different faiths," Chan said.

Cook and Jimmy Schoenfold, a 2007 Miami graduate working full time for CCC headed up the campaign, and said that a similar campaign had been done on campus around 10 years ago.

"It was right when the Matrix came out so instead of Sam, the focus of the campaign was on a person codenamed Neo, after the movie character, who was revealed at the end of the campaign," Schoenfold said.

Cook also added that the 'I Am Sam' campaign was modeled off of a similar event at the University of California-Berkeley.

Sam shared his story at 9 p.m. Thursday, April 17 in the Shriver Multipurpose Room. The event was attended by CCC members and several others who wanted to hear what Sam had to say.

Junior Joey Hudson said that he has known Sam for a while.

"I was very impressed with him getting up there and being honest," Hudson said. "It took so much courage to tell us what he believes. Even if you don't agree it would be hard."