“Do you like communicating over all those electronic gizmos that my colleagues and I built for you? They would have been illegal when I was your age,” Libertarian journalist Bill Frezza asks in promotion of his new college tour.

The political commentator will speak on campus Tuesday about his 15 years as a venture capital investor. The talk will be followed that night by a social event titled “Free beer and pizza, a case study on incentives.”

“My goal is to reach the next generation, as you are the only ones who can dig us out of the mess we made,” Frezza said. “But to do that, you need to be aware of and understand your own history.”

After 36 years on the “bleeding edge of technology,” Frezza says he is winding down his venture capital activities to devote his time to writing, speaking and his new radio program RealClear Radio Hour, which is broadcasted on Bloomberg Boston.

The event is being put on by Appalachian’s chapter of Young Americans For Liberty, a pro-liberty organization with more than 500 chapters on college campuses across the nation.

“I think we’re a group that is ultimately a network of liberated minds,” campus chapter president and junior journalism major Brandon Partridge said. “One of our goals is to expose everyone on campus to the network.”

The organization tries to reach out to all students, especially those who might not be interested or knowledgeable about politics right now.

“Most of our members feel afflicted by the current political system,” said public relations coordinator and senior music industries major Will Fortune. “We’re using the momentum to spread the message of liberty, which has kind of been subdued in today’s current political system. We want the most freedom for everyone.”

Although the club for the most part had not heard of Frezza or his work before this summer, they said most of his views align with their own. That said, one controversial article of his to come out recently, titled “Drunk Female Guests Are the Gravest Threat to Fraternities,” gained some rapid attention among alternative news outlets, calling the views expressed sexist and outdated.

Frezza said many readers misinterpreted his views, and stands by his own commitment to helping a generation of students prepare for the upcoming Libertarian movement – starting with the notion of free markets and free minds.

“Over the course of 30 years, my generation built the entire digital universe that so profoundly changed the world,” Frezza said. “On the flip side, we Baby Boomers totally screwed your generation, leaving you the most indebted in history with a sick economy, a dysfunctional government and a broken monetary system.”

Frezza said he hopes college students gain some perspective from his talking tour, as well as a healthy and questioning skepticism about the status quo.

“I’ve been very impressed with the Young Americans for Liberty as a vector for real hope and change, as opposed to the counterfeit kind we’ve been experiencing,” Frezza said.

Appalachian’s YAL chapter is rapidly rising as one of the most active and popular in the state, which is already in the top five in the nation in terms of involvement.

“It means more if we can say we made change on our campus, as opposed to ‘we [complained] about what’s going on in D.C.,’” Partridge said.

Frezza’s presentation takes place Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. in the Rough Ridge Room of Plemmons Student Union. The social following the talk will take place from 7:15-9 p.m. at Espresso News. Free beer will be distributed there to the first 25 to show.

YAL holds their next meeting after this event Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. in the New River Ballroom. Partridge encourages all students to come out to events and participate in open discussion, especially if they have any skepticism about the organization or its beliefs.

Story: Lovey Cooper, Senior A&E Reporter