News Story

An IU Ethics Bowl team has competed in competitions every year since 2001. Saturday, that changes: IU will send two teams to the Central States Regional Ethics Bowl at Marian University in Indianapolis.

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, which is based at IU’s Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, sponsors the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl each year. About 110 teams from universities in the U.S. and Canada compete in one of 10 regional bowls each fall. Of those, 32 teams will advance to the national competition during APPE’s national meeting in California in February.

The two teams of students, who applied for the program earlier this fall, have been practicing for several weeks. Team Cream and Team Crimson discuss real-world dilemmas to arrive at ethical decisions.

“It is fascinating to get other people’s perceptions of ethics,” said Ali Henke, Team Cream member and sophomore in political science and chemistry. “You can find the root of why you stand for what you stand for, or it can make you realize you don’t exactly have the best stance on something.”

One issue they discussed at a recent Sunday practice was assisted suicide and “right to die.”  During the discussion, Henke called her mother, who works in the medical field, for real-world examples.

Some of the issues for the regional include a case addressing drivers’ personal rights to smoke when children are in their cars; a case of a woman who rescued an abused dog and later was charged with theft; and several cases that examine what happens when advances in medical science may harm individuals.

Team Crimson has some experience in member Grant Manon, a senior in finance, political science and economics who is competing for the fourth year.

Manon said he is interested in ethics for two reasons.

“I’m a business major, and ethics is something that has been lacking in recent years,” he said. “It’s just having that more thoughtful picture of not just how your actions are going to affect yourself or your company, but also the other stakeholders and a larger group.”

“From a personal development standpoint, the Ethics Bowl team gives you an opportunity to grasp and grapple with issues that don’t have an easy answer,” he added.

Rafal Swiatkowski, a senior in religious studies, sociology and Germanic studies, and Shayna Goldsmith, a junior in studio art, shared similar reasons for joining the team.

“A lot of times, you’re faced with really ambiguous situations. I saw this as an opportunity to challenge myself and make myself go into something with less of a clear answer and problem solve,” Swiatkowski said.

As an art major, Goldsmith said she enjoyed the intellectually stimulating aspect as well. She said that she likes the challenges the discussions present.

Around five weeks before the competition, the Ethics Bowl teams are given the real-world cases to review. During weekly Sunday practices, the teams run through their outlines of arguments and confront each other’s notions.

Coaches Joe Bartzel and Emma Young preside over these practices and give their veteran input. Young is an IU Ethics Bowl alumna who now is program manager at the Poynter Center. She provides an insight to the competition for the new teams.

“I’ve continued to follow the IU team since I was on it, so a great part about now being in a coaching position is having a sense of the legacy of the IU approach to Ethics Bowl and continuing to expand the network of very brilliant coaches and students who have represented IU this way,” she said.

IU Ethics Bowl teams won the national competition in 2004 and 2009, placed third in 2010 and made the quarter finals in 2012. Teams won the regionals in 2007 and 2011. With two teams in the running this year and more interactive practices, students hope they are doubling their chances to take the title.

Other team members are John Hanks, a sophomore in economic, mathematics and philosophy; Nikhil Nandu, a freshman in finance and management; and Radhika Agarwal, a senior in biochemistry and biology.

The IU Poynter Center became part of The Media School earlier this year.