CFACT at the University of Minnesota

Spring Semester!

2010-01-31T15:45:00.002-06:00

Welcome back!
CFACT is working on getting going for the Spring Semester! We have a new meeting location, but still have meetings at 6pm on Tuesdays. Our new meeting location is still in Coffman Memorial Union, but is now in room 301. The next meeting will be Feb. 9th, so be sure to come and help make this semester great! We will be voting on a few new officer positions, hearing from Zipcar, and coming up with action plans for the semester. See you there!

Conservative Awareness Week Wrap-Up!

2009-11-28T16:00:00.002-06:00

The fourth annual Conservative Awareness Week at the University of Minnesota was a tremendous success! A full week of events dedicated to showcasing conservative causes, Conservative Awareness Week 2009 included a variety of highly successful events to inform the campus of conservative ideals. Check out some of the pictures posted here, and be sure to visit our Facebook page to see even more photos from the week! Thank you to all who attended this year’s Conservative Awareness Week, and special thanks to the College Republicans, the Ayn Rand Study Group, and the Minnesota Republic newspaper for helping to put together the great events for the week. CFACT does not have any events scheduled for the remainder of the semester, but stay tuned for more great events to come in the spring!

Conservative Awareness Week

2009-11-11T11:10:00.003-06:00

Join CFACT and our friends from the College Republicans, Association of Conservative Fraternity Men, Students for a Conservative Voice, Students for Human Life, and other conservative groups as we host Conservative Awareness Week November 16th-20th! Here is the full schedule:

Monday November 16th:
10am-2pm: Conservative Awareness Week kick-off! Join all the groups on the Front Plaza of Coffman Memorial Union as we promote the week's event, do demonstrations, and give away some candy! There will be another attempt at CFACT's solar oven cake baking--so don't miss it!
6:30pm: CMU President’s Room: Conservative Poker Night! Come play poker, with absolutely no risk involved, eat some pizza, and enter for a chance to win some door prizes! Prizes from the poker tournament will include books, Gopher hockey tickets, Visa gift cards, and much more!

Tuesday November 17th
12:30pm: Mary Amlaw Luncheon: Join local author Mary Amlaw, author of "We Love Our Country". Food will be served. Room 326 of Coffman Memorial Union.
6:30pm: Women in Nuclear presentation, Law School room 30. WIN will talk about the advantages of nuclear power. Raising Canes will be served.
7:30pm: CFACT Presents: William Glahn vs. Dr. Julian Marshall debate on the New Urbanism, room 30 Law School. Dr. Kent Kaiser will moderate. Questions regarding Minnesota's energy future and the ideals of "new urbanism" will be debated. Audience members will be invited to submit their questions as well.

Wednesday November 18th:
11am-1pm Food and Clothing Drive, Front Plaza CMU: Join College Republicans and the David Carlson for Senate campaign in a food and clothing drive!
7pm College Republicans present: Kurt Zellers, Minnesota House Minority Leader in the President’s Room, CMU. Pizza will be served.

Thursday November 19th:
7:30pm: Ayn Rand Study Group presents: “In Defense of Oil: celebrating oil’s 150th birthday with Alex Epstein”. Smith Hall room 100. Join Alex Epstein, a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, on a discussion on the benefits from oil. Free with student ID, $5 without.

Friday November 20th:
Discussion on gun rights and gun range visit. More details to come!

It's a packed week, but it should be a blast! For more information, please contact oreil034@umn.edu.

2009-10-11T13:30:00.006-05:00

Busy Busy!

2009-10-11T13:30:00.005-05:00

CFACT has been super busy this semester! Friday night was the Homecoming parade, and CFACT was in it showcasing a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid from Wally McCarthy's Cadillac and Hummer! We had a lot of fun, and hope everyone watching did too!

Join us on Tuesday October 13th at 6pm in the Mississippi Room of Coffman Memorial Union as we host leading global warming critic Lord Monckton! Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley is a British politician, business consultant, policy adviser, writer, columnist, and inventor. He served as an advisor to Margaret Thatcher's policy unit in the 1980s. Today, he is a foremost critic of global warming and has a longstanding offer to Al Gore for a debate, which Al Gore has yet to accept. A reception will begin at 6pm, with Lord Monckton’s keynote address beginning at 7pm. A question and answer session will follow. See the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163429775038&index=1

On Sunday October 18th, we will be hosting the world premiere of the documentary, “Not Evil, Just Wrong”, which exposes the true cost of global warming hysteria. The premiere will be in the Coffman Theater of Coffman Memorial Union at 8:30pm. To view the trailer of the film and further details, please see the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162692130347

We look forward to seeing you at our events!

Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann Friday!

2009-09-23T11:38:00.001-05:00

CFACT is pleased to announce that we are co-sponsoring a visit to the University of Minnesota campus from Congressman Ron Paul and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann!
When: Friday, September 25th, 7pm
Where: Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota
Cost: Free and open to the public!

Join us to hear both Member's of Congress talk about limited government, free markets, and monetary reform. Attendees are asked to submit questions as they arrive, as there will be a question and answer session following both Members' speeches.

Want more information? Email cfact@umn.edu.

First Meeting of the Semester!

2009-08-31T11:16:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the start of another semester! CFACT is hitting the ground running, with our first meeting of the year on Tuesday September 8th at 6pm in room 319 of Coffman Memorial Union. We have a bunch of great events planned and look forward to working to make this year the best yet! Free food will be served. If anyone wants more information on CFACT, please email oreil034@umn.edu. See you September 8th!

Year-end Wrap-up

2009-05-09T09:49:00.006-05:00

The 2008-2009 school year has been another wildly successful year for CFACT! CFACT hosted some great speakers, including New York Times best selling authors Jonah Goldberg and Dinesh D'Souza, former NASA scientist of the year Dr. Roy Spencer, and new author Adam Shepard. A river clean up, free trade vs. fair trade coffee tastings, and a solar oven demonstration were just some of the incredibly fun events CFACT did throughout the year. CFACT watched some great documentaries, including "Mine Your Own Business", "Indoctrinate U", "Expelled", and "Who Killed the Electric Car?". CFACT was also honored, being nominated for a Tony Diggs Excellence Award, and being voted "Best Student Group" through the Minnesota Daily's Grapevine Awards. We had tons of fun and are already planning for more outstanding events for the fall. Thanks to everyone who helped make this year a success! Stay tuned for future events and email oreil034@umn.edu for more information.

CFACT on Leadership Institute's website!

2009-04-28T15:36:00.003-05:00

A write up about CFACT's recent speaker event, a night with Adam Shepard, is up on the Leadership Institute's blog! Go check it out, and vote for CFACT! We look forward to keeping in touch with Adam and hope to bring him back next school year. Be sure to check out his book "Scratch Beginnings". It's a great read and an absolutely amazing story.

Free Trade IS Fair Trade

2009-04-26T15:42:00.002-05:00

Across the country and around the world, a new fad has developed— “fair trade”. Meant to provide consumers with the opportunity to feel like they are helping the world’s poor, it has become a staple in a line of goods designed to make consumers feel better about their purchases. The University of Minnesota has taken an initiative to offer as much fair trade certified coffee as possible. However, this begs the question: what is fair trade?

The fair trade movement has existed since the 1970s, but didn’t really take hold until the early 1990s, when many fair trade groups came together under the label of the Fair Trade Federation (FTF). The mission of the Federation reads:

“The Fair Trade Federation is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty.”

What does this mean? Basically, believers of fair trade advocate a model where farmers can apply for “fair trade certification,” which enables them to receive a guaranteed price (above the current world market price) for their goods. The idea behind this, as the mission states, is to help alleviate poverty. This is a worthwhile goal to be sure, but how does it work?

Not all farmers are allowed to become fair trade. First, individual farmers are not allowed to apply for certification—they must be cooperative farms. This means that an individual farmer has to team up with numerous other farmers to apply for certification. Cooperatives also cannot be large, must be family owned, and must pay the FTF $2,000 to $4,000 for certification (plus yearly fees and a percentage of coffee gross). With this comes a theoretically huge benefit. Farmers receive a price above the free market value of their coffee. This ideally makes everyone happy. The consumer is helping the poor, the corporation sells more coffee while getting good publicity, and the farmer makes more money. What’s not to like?

Sadly there is much not to like. For starters, many corporations make more profit off of fair trade products than they do from their non-certified goods. This is because the consumer assumes the price increase is benefiting the poor. However, this is not the case. Of the price premium paid for fair trade coffee, almost 90% of it goes to the corporation! Fair trade is a contributing factor in keeping the poor in poverty. Because fair trade is only applicable for small family owned operations, it ignores the plight of the vast majority of coffee laborers. Fair trade helps small land owners, not the workers that make up the world’s poor. Stemming from this, if a small family owned farm wants to grow, it can’t if it wishes to stay a fair trade certified operation. For many farmers, this poses a huge problem. If they grow, they can employ more people which would alleviate poverty, yet the fair trade groups won’t allow this!

One of the largest flaws in the fair trade system is the lack of economic principles. Because of the guaranteed high price of fair trade coffee, many people will become more attracted to becoming coffee farmers. This is catastrophic not only for farmers attempting to become fair trade, but also detrimental to the coffee industry at large. Because of the increased amount of coffee, the overall price of coffee becomes lower. The increased interest in fair trade also poses a problem for farmers lucky enough to have become fair trade certified. There is no guarantee that their beans will be sold at the fair trade price, even if they have complied with all of the FTF’s costly restrictions.

Obviously, fair trade has many flaws. What is a socially conscious consumer to do? The answer is the free market. Coffee has been transformed since the beginnings of the fair trade movement. The rise of Starbucks has created more demand in coffee than ever before. Coffee is no longer viewed as a necessary commodity used to stay awake, but something to be enjoyed. How has this raised the price of coffee? Starbucks (and its competitors) are constantly trying to outdo each other with higher quality coffee from more exotic locations. Because the need for quality is so high, Starbucks is willing to pay more for coffee to ensure the highest quality. No longer are consumers content with cheap coffee. They want quality and are willing to pay for it.

Free trade truly has an impact. Free trade coffee accounts for more than 95% of the world’s coffee, ensuring that every purchase is truly making a difference. All farmers are able to participate in free trade and are able to grow without consequence. Fair trade has noble intentions, but fails to accomplish any of them. Free trade ensures that all farmers are treated equally and fairly. After all, free trade is fair trade.

Internship Information Night!

2009-04-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the only free market based environmental group on campus, is looking for interns for the 2009-2010 school year! Come to our informational meeting to learn what we do, how to get credit, and enjoy some free pizza! Third floor of Coffman, room 324. Questions? Email oreil034@umn.edu.

Who: Students at the University of Minnesota
Where: Coffman Memorial Union room 324
When: Tuesday April 28th, 6pm
What: Learn how to earn easy credits--and get free pizza!