Ban Southwestern Advantage MLM from Purdue University campus


Ban Southwestern Advantage MLM from Purdue University campus
The Issue
"Southwestern Advantage" is a multi-level marketing company that lures college students all over the country to take part in their 12 week long "internship" selling educational materials as a door to door salesperson.
They have been invading campus recently ,interrupting lectures in order to further their own agenda: attract as many college students as possible to their "direct sales" scam that only serves to prey on students.
Claiming some students make up to 30,000 U.S. Dollars in 12 weeks, where students will be working in almost rural areas all over the country. What they do not tell you until you are stuck in the location you were sent to is that you must purchase all products from their company, causing students to desperately make the money back with no way home, considering they force you to use your transportation.
Students often report working between 72 and 90 hours a week in these positions.
Even worse, Southwestern Advantage themselves reported that in 2010, the average first-year dealer who stayed with the program for over 20 days grossed $2,415 per month before expenses. These expenses usually range from $1,500 to $3,000, meaning students would likely make more a maximum of $1000 if they don't instead go into debt. Far from their claims.
Speaking of debt, Southwestern Advantage makes students sign in two dependents prior to beginning work, promising a deposit of $500 to pay for any debt the student owes the company at the end of the summer. It's almost as if they knew this would be a common occurrence.
According to the charity Polaris, organizations like these often send their recruiters to target unemployed young people and college students with promises of high profits. As independent contractors, Southwestern Advantage avoids the Fair Labor Standards Act's mandates for minimum wage or overtime pay. Southwestern Advantage skirts the laws, ignored ethics and morals, and tries to get students to pay for this "privilege".
Southwestern Advantage is manipulating the lives of our students and inhibiting our class time. It is time to permanently remove them from campus.
193
The Issue
"Southwestern Advantage" is a multi-level marketing company that lures college students all over the country to take part in their 12 week long "internship" selling educational materials as a door to door salesperson.
They have been invading campus recently ,interrupting lectures in order to further their own agenda: attract as many college students as possible to their "direct sales" scam that only serves to prey on students.
Claiming some students make up to 30,000 U.S. Dollars in 12 weeks, where students will be working in almost rural areas all over the country. What they do not tell you until you are stuck in the location you were sent to is that you must purchase all products from their company, causing students to desperately make the money back with no way home, considering they force you to use your transportation.
Students often report working between 72 and 90 hours a week in these positions.
Even worse, Southwestern Advantage themselves reported that in 2010, the average first-year dealer who stayed with the program for over 20 days grossed $2,415 per month before expenses. These expenses usually range from $1,500 to $3,000, meaning students would likely make more a maximum of $1000 if they don't instead go into debt. Far from their claims.
Speaking of debt, Southwestern Advantage makes students sign in two dependents prior to beginning work, promising a deposit of $500 to pay for any debt the student owes the company at the end of the summer. It's almost as if they knew this would be a common occurrence.
According to the charity Polaris, organizations like these often send their recruiters to target unemployed young people and college students with promises of high profits. As independent contractors, Southwestern Advantage avoids the Fair Labor Standards Act's mandates for minimum wage or overtime pay. Southwestern Advantage skirts the laws, ignored ethics and morals, and tries to get students to pay for this "privilege".
Southwestern Advantage is manipulating the lives of our students and inhibiting our class time. It is time to permanently remove them from campus.
193
The Decision Makers
Petition created on January 22, 2020