At California Regional Ethics Bowl tournament, SCU team qualifies for Nationals
On Saturday December 3rd, an SCU team placed third overall at the Ethics Bowl Regionals at CSU in Chico, gaining a place at the national tournament in Dallas, Texas, on February 26th. Ethics Bowl is an intercollegiate debate competition which promotes respectful discussion of complex contemporary ethical issues. Two teams discuss two cases in front of three judges and an audience. Teams prepare for three months in advance of the tournament by studying and preparing to respond to a set of 12 cases. This year’s competition cases included drug legalization, the limits of free speech, caring for climate refugees, harvesting organs from dying newborns, 3D printing of firearms, the Apple vs. FBI iPhone case, abortion of babies with Zika, questionable incentives to promote recycling, open-carried and concealed guns onto college campuses, and how to medically treat people who want to disable themselves.
SCU’s two teams, "Hegel’s Bagels" and "Kant Feel My Face," each did very well in the tournament, with the "Kants" gaining a 1, 1, and 1 record, and "Bagels" going 3 and 0, the best record in the round-robin morning half of the tournament. The Bagels advanced to the semi-finals and narrowly lost to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, however, their third place was assured thanks to their best overall morning record.
The Santa Clara University Ethics Bowl program is a collaboration of the Philosophy Department and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. It is coached by the Philosophy Departments's Erick Ramirez and Ethics Center staff Brian Green and Patrick Coutermarsh.
Shown in photo (left to right): Competition Organizer Susanna Boxall, Alex Arnold, Leilan Nishi, Matti Masden, Evan Meyer, and Derek Sikkkema.