Excel Communications and Vector Marketing, two businesses that use college campuses to recruit student workers, are unwelcome on Winona State’s campus according to student senator Ryan Flynn.

Flynn, chair of the Student Services Committee, said he brought the issue up earlier this year and his committee has been conducting research to find out what kind of companies they are.

“People involved in these companies go to college campuses and get students to join their pyramid scam,” Flynn said.

He said based on research conducted by his committee, these are companies that students should beware of because they appear to be legitimate companies, but they require potential employees to pay an initial fee.

“Any company that asks you to put money down is not asking for your time, they’re asking for your money,” Flynn said.

He said while researching Excel Communications he found the company had a complaint already on file with the Attorney General of Arizona and Wisconsin and the Federal Trade Commission.

Minnesota’s Attorney General will also receive a complaint from Flynn and Winona State Vice President for University Affairs Tess Arrick-Kruger.

Flynn said he met with Arrick-Kruger to find out if the university could keep Excel, Vector and similar businesses off campus.

“My goal was to get these companies off campus, but because we’re government property, there are strict guidelines governing who we can and can’t ask to leave,” Flynn said.

Vector Marketing, the company that writes advertisements on university chalkboards, has opposition from people who have previously worked for the company.

One Web site, http://www.petitiononline.com/vector/petition.html, has numerous signatures from former Vector employees.

One signature states, “I was hired by this company as well. I was told that I would have a guaranteed pay base per appointment. After [one] week they told me that I wouldn't have this base pay and if I wanted to continue working that I could work off commission only.”

According to a section on Vector Marketing’s Web site devoted to student relations, students do benefit from being employed with the company.

Heidi Heigel, a Vector Marketing Campus Relations Associate from Central Michigan University, said “Having an internship not only helped me academically, but also professionally. I learned the skills needed to pursue a career in business and promotion, while also learning life long skills.”

Flynn said though he can’t expect representatives from Vector Marketing to stop coming to campus, he does expect them to stop advertising on chalkboards.

“They can be here, but they can’t write on the chalkboards,” he said. “It’s annoying and it’s just against the rules.”

Flynn said he and the other members of the Student Services Committee — Erin Feger, Kari Winter, Jared Stene and Jen Wenzel — are designing pamphlets that explain what these businesses do and how they affect students.

“The pamphlets will be done in a few weeks, then we’ll distribute them [hopefully] with the help of the Inter Residential Hall Council,” Flynn said. “We’re just trying to protect students from businesses that are trying to scam them.