Student alleges scam recruitment at SFU

By: Mason Mattu, News Writer

Editor’s note: The featured photo does not feature the people or locations involved in the incident described in this article. This photo was set up by the photographer without any intention of resembling the incident.

On January 6, a representative from the company Scholars Edge Painting asked an SFU economics professor to deliver a speech during lecture. Scholars Edge is a “business development program” that allows “students to experience running their own [painting] business” during the summer. The business has no affiliation with SFU or official campus presence. Following a presentation to the class about Scholars Edge, the representative allegedly grew angry and snatched a set of recruitment papers out of the professor’s hands.

Initially, information about the incident was posted in a now-deleted Reddit post on r/simonfraser that featured photos of the representative — Galen Malthouse, a district manager at Scholars Edge. Malthouse spoke to The Peak in an interview. He is not a student at SFU.

He told The Peak he didn’t have permission from SFU administration to advertise Scholars Edge on campus, but had permission to present from the SFU professor. Malthouse stated that his company has had some recruitment initiatives at SFU before. In other instances, he explained he gained permission from other university administrators to present in front of classes, but did not think it was necessary to ask SFU administration as he got the classroom professor’s approval.

In a statement to The Peak, SFU said “commercial activities and advertising on SFU campuses fall under policy AD 1.06,” which states, “advertising and other commercial activities are not permitted in classrooms, laboratories, or any other space specifically devoted to academic purposes.”

The Peak spoke to Josh, an eyewitness who saw the incident in class. The Peak verified Josh was enrolled in the same economics course where the incident took place. Josh’s name has been changed to protect his identity. According to Josh, Malthouse entered the economics lecture before class started and spoke to the professor. He then presented a job opportunity with his company where “top candidates” could apply and “make $30,000.” Malthouse passed around sign-up sheets and left the lecture hall in Shrum Science Centre Chemistry afterward. According to Josh, the sign-up sheets did not mention the company’s name.

“During the class, I searched up Scholars Edge. And then I saw all these reviews saying it was a scam, and a lot of people lost money,” said Josh. He mentioned he saw posts on Reddit warning students of first-day scams and illegitimate job opportunities on campus.

On r/UCalgary, one Reddit user who claims to have experience working for the company said it puts student painters in unsafe working conditions. Other allegations against the company from anonymous users who claim to be former employees include district managers being “shady with money” and wages being paid in cash. The Peak could not independently verify this information.

Malthouse, who has been part of Scholars Edge for seven years, said Scholars Edge is not a scam. He also stated that Scholars Edge is a co-op work-study option at UVic. Two UVic students claim to be doing a co-op at Scholars Edge, according to the Scholar’s Edge website. The Peak tried to access the UVic co-op portal but could not independently verify this information. “At no point is there a situation where people lose money by doing Scholars Edge,” he said. “Students don’t pay anything upfront to do Scholars Edge.” Malthouse said Scholars Edge makes investments in their student painters. This includes giving them business licenses, marketing materials, and information on how to run their business. He stated that students make money through “a profit margin off of their business,” in which the company takes royalty.

“During the class, I searched up Scholars Edge. And then I saw all these reviews saying it was a scam, and a lot of people lost money.” — Josh, SFU student, eyewitness

The Scholars Edge website states the company “does not guarantee profits.”

Josh said he let the professor know what he found online, and the professor gathered the sign-up sheets from students. When Malthouse re-entered the lecture hall at the end of class, the professor declined his request to give back the signed papers. Malthouse then allegedly “snatched” the papers from their hands.

“His face was shaking,” said Josh, referring to Malthouse. “He was fuming.”

Malthouse denies snatching the papers or raising his voice. He stated the professor was “very rude” to him. “If [the professor was] going to hang onto these papers, they were doing those students a massive disservice,” said Malthouse. “If [the students] hadn’t gotten that call, then they never would have known what this opportunity was.” Malthouse calls students who sign up to facilitate an information session.

The Peak reached out to the economics professor for more information, but did not receive a response by the publication deadline. SFU told The Peak they were “aware of an incident where a recruiter is alleged to have grabbed a stack of recruitment papers from a professor’s hand” and that Campus Public Safety (CPS) confirmed “they were notified after the incident.” SFU also stated that “a supervisor with CPS met with the faculty member to document a formal report and offer available supports to them.”

Reddit users on r/simonfraser said Malthouse tried to address their class as well. Malthouse confirmed he had visited other business classes on January 6. Josh also said he’s seen QR codes leading to “multi-level marketing scams” on the ground at SFU. While a “multi-level marketing plan is a legal business model for selling goods and services,” some of these businesses “are illegal pyramid schemes.” A pyramid scheme generates profit by “recruiting an ever-increasing number of ‘investors’” and “providing profits to the earlier investors.” Incidents involving recruiting for alleged scams and multi-level marketing schemes have been seen in the past. Two years ago, SFU students issued complaints about the recruitment practices of Scholars Edge and a similar company, Student Works Painting. Three years ago, a Reddit user warned of a multi-level marketing scheme disguised as a “financial literacy campaign.” Similar instances have also occurred at UBC and UVic.

In an email reporting the incident to Galib Bhayani, SFU chief safety and risk officer, Josh made a series of requests to prevent these incidents from taking place in the future. This includes alerting “professors across all faculties to deny access to unauthorized individuals attempting to make announcements during lectures” and investigating “this incident further to ensure appropriate actions are taken against the individual involved to prevent similar occurrences.”

The Peak reached out to Scholar’s Edge Painting for comment. The company requested more time to allow the investigation of the incident to be completed and include it in the article. The Peak was unable to extend the deadline due to our publication deadline but may follow up about the investigation in a future article.