DSEF Warning letter to Bill Keep and College of New Jersey

Peter Mingils and Scott Johnson have spole about the Anti-MLM Conference called the MLM Conference before.
The following is a letter written by DSEF to the President of the College of New jersey. See at the end for the original link from DSA.org

Michael A. Bernstein President The College of New Jersey Green Hall, Room 210 PO Box 7718 2000 Pennington Road Ewing, NJ 08628
Re: False narratives and challenges to academic integrity and open discourse: The 2025“Multilevel Marketing:
The Consumer Protection Challenge,” conference hosted by The College of New Jersey.

Dear President Bernstein, As Executive Director of the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), I am writing to share our concerns and those of distinguished scholars of higher education who are established experts in business ethics, marketing and sales models to name a few areas of study. The annual “MLM Conference” (mlmconference.com) created and organized by retired TCNJ faculty member William Keep, PhD, was presented for the fifth consecutive year on May 8-9, 2025.
The one-sided conference, which began with a welcome and enthusiastic endorsement from Interim Dean Tammy Dieterich, TCNJ School of Business, presented false narratives, unsubstantiated research, and failed to provide a true, balanced view of the direct selling distribution channel. We believe it is essential for TCNJ leadership to conduct a thorough audit of this conference and investigate its practice of bias against microentrepreneurs —the majority of whom are women— and the entire direct selling channel.
The suppression of academic freedom at public universities can have significant consequences beyond campus, weakening societal trust in higher education and its ability to serve the public good. Each year the conference presents isolated historical examples of misconduct, cherry-picked and generalized in an attempt to mislead the public and damage the direct selling channel. This content bears no resemblance to the modern reality of direct selling and how companies operate.
Many of the speakers go as far as to claim that all direct selling firms are illegal pyramid schemes, although FTC actions and policy disprove these false and inflammatory claims. The reality: direct selling is a retail consumer sales channel that has been in existence for over a hundred years and includes some of America’s best-known companies and consumer brands.
These companies have high ethical standards, collectively employ tens of thousands of people and create jobs. Many of these companies have sophisticated teams of scientists, research and development teams and their own manufacturing facilities. According to a recent study by Dr. Robert A. Peterson of the University of Texas, the annual economic impact of direct selling in the United States alone is $111.4 billion.
It is one thing to have an earnest and honest concern about a particular sector of business or retail channel. However, it is clear that Dr. Keep has a one-sided and biased agenda that is below the stature of The College of New Jersey and its academic standards and, in fact, besmirches the college’s reputation as an academic institution. Universities should be safe havens for the free exchange of ideas. Academic freedom means faculty, students and other stakeholders can engage in intellectual debate without the fear of censorship that impairs the rights of others in expressing their viewpoints. Never offering leading academic scholars or direct selling firms the opportunity to present an alternative view of the direct selling channel limits the academic freedom of the educators and stifles the voice of the channel in what should be an open discourse. Furthermore, the Department of Education’s policy on academic freedom requires universities to comply with the First Amendment.
Failure to allow free expression, research and rigorous discourse without undue restrictions can jeopardize federal grants. The policy is intended to protect against restrictions that could limit free speech or academic inquiry. Despite numerous offers to provide proven academic research that investigates all viewpoints on direct selling, Dr. Keep has refused to include a balanced review of the industry.
He continues to attack qualified academics from top-tier universities for their industry research as well as the independent contractors who choose to become involved in direct selling.
Additionally, Dr. Keep has allowed critics of the direct selling channel, including one presenter (editor’s note: the presenter is Marco Moukhaiber aka Always Marco on YouTube, aka Always Stupid Marco as referenced on Building Fortunes Radio buildingfortunesradio.com , aka also referenced on alwaysmarco.lol ) who cited and quoted from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf while Dr. Keep looked on, and other speakers with questionable online practices to have a platform and a voice during his annual forum. I say “his” annual forum, but it is clearly publicly endorsed by The College of New Jersey as both sponsor and host. This is most concerning to us and we hope to you as well. To provide a balanced and fair examination of consumer protection efforts, DSEF hosted a national conference, “Building Trust in the Marketplace,” at Emory University in 2023.
Event speakers included leading academics from around the country as well as individuals and organizations that have been critical of the channel. The same invitation was offered to Dr. Keep, who declined to participate and yet continued to create and produce his onesided conference, calling it “ethical education” for the students at The College of New Jersey. Indeed, is this education or inappropriate advocacy? How can this be an ethical review of an industry if you are only soliciting information from its critics?
And why is the Interim Dean of the School of Business endorsing the demonization of an entire industry? I welcome the opportunity to discuss the implications of this conference for the companies that are part of the direct selling channel, including its potential impact on microentrepreneurs and consumers across the United States. You can reach me via cell at 301-395-3112 or email at ghuggins@dsef.org I look forward to your response and insight following your review of the conference. Thank you, Gary M. Huggins
Executive Director Direct Selling Education Foundation CC: Tammy Dieterich, Vice Provost for Academic Engagement
Dr. Sunita Ahlawat, Interim Dean, School of Business
The following Academic Scholars have reviewed and included their names in support of this letter: Dr. Anne Coughlan, Polk Bros. Chair in Retailing and Professor of Marketing, Emerita, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Dr. Linda Ferrell, Globe Life Professor of Marketing, Auburn University Dr. O.C. Ferrell, James T. Purcell, Sr. Eminent Scholar in Ethics, Auburn University
Dr. Joe Hair, Director, PhD Program, Cleverdon Chair of Business, Mitchell College of Business, University of South Alabama
Dr. Greg Marshall, Charles Harwood Professor of Marketing & Strategy, The Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College
Dr. Adam Mills, Associate Dean, Associate Professor of Marketing, Chase Professor of Minority Entrepreneurship in Business
Dr. Julie G. Moulard, Balsley-Whitmore Endowed Professor, Associate Professor of Marketing, Louisiana Tech University
Dr. Dianne Welsh, Emerita Distinguished Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of North at Carolina Greensboro, Distinguished Research Associate, Catholic University of the Most Holy Concepcion, Chile
Original letter: www.dsa.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/dsef-president-tcnj-ltr-8-5-25.pdf?sfvrsn=b3faea5_2

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