CSFE Blog
Classroom Debate: Government should often intervene to control economic activity
As part of the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise's goal of enhancing free and open discussion and debate, the Barnes Student Fellows, Tryston Weiss and Kevin Lavery, led two classroom debates on April 29th. The resolution was: Government should often intervene...
Diana Esters wins 1st Place!
The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise wants to congratulate Diana Esters (middle) for earning 1st place in the undergraduate research poster session at the 49th annual Meeting of the Association of Private Enterprise Education in Guatemala City for her project...
Human Rights Violations and US Military Intervention: A Campus-Wide Debate
On March 26th, over 40 students gathered to discuss whether - and when - human rights violations justify U.S. military intervention. Four students kicked off the debate by presenting two speeches in the affirmative and two speeches in the negative. Students discussed...
Kevin Lavery Presents His Research Paper at the Eastern Economic Association Conference
On Saturday, February 22, 2025, Kevin Lavery presented his paper, "State Mandates on Sex Education and their Correlates to a Reduction in the Rate of Forcible Rape" in a faculty session at the Eastern Economic Association Meetings in New York City. Kevin’s paper...
Tryston Weiss Presents His Undergraduate Research Paper at the Eastern Economic Association Conference
On Saturday, February 22, 2025, Tryston Weiss presented his paper, "Trapped by Design: Redlining and the Cycle of Poverty in the US Cities" at the Issues in Political Economy Undergraduate research sessions at the Eastern Economic Association Meetings in New York...
Joseph Duty Presents His Undergraduate Research Paper at the Eastern Economic Association Conference
On Friday, February 21, 2025, Joseph Duty presented his paper on the “Unintended Consequences: How the Different Implementations of Colonial Property Systems by the Spanish Effect Latin American Economic Development Today” at the Issues in Political Economy...
What should be done about the lack of affordable housing in the Western NC region?
On Tuesday, February 11th, The CSFE welcomed back the College Debates and Discourse Alliance’s Kayla Johnson to serve as our discussion leader on the topic: What should be done about the lack of affordable housing in the Western NC region? This is the first ABCD...
Campus Wide Discussion: What should be done about the lack of affordable housing in Western North Carolina?
Housing in Western North Carolina is expensive. Surprisingly expensive. Those from other parts of the country often assume that because Western North Carolina (WNC) is rural, housing is inexpensive. Residents know otherwise. On February 11th the CSFE along with the...
Graduate Spotlight: Diana Esters (WCU 2024)
We are always excited to highlight outstanding student-scholars who have played a vital role in Center's projects and events. Diana Esters is a perfect example of such a student-scholar. In the fall of 2023, Diana was selected for the gift-funded, seminar class: Lunch...
Is a vote for a third-party candidate a wasted vote?
Election Day is less than two weeks away. As of Oct. 4, 2024, polls showed that 46.5% had an unfavorable opinion of Kamala Harris and 52.6% felt unfavorably toward Donald Trump. So, what about voting for a Presidential candidate from a different party? On Wednesday,...