Ethics Bowl Team

Indiana University Ethics Bowl Team Wins National Competition The Indiana University Ethics Bowl team won the Fifteenth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition March 5, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The competition, which began in the fall with ten regional bowl competitions, culminated in competition among the 32 top teams on March 5. The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is one of the programs of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, which has sponsored Ethics Bowl since its inception in 1996.

The winners at the national competition in Cincinnati: Shana Bergen, Devin Carpenter, Dylan Pittman, Neil Shah, Laura Goins, Rachel Morris, and Richard Miller.

The 2008-09 team members were:

• Devin Carpenter, a junior majoring in Philosophy, Religious Studies and Political Science
• Laura Goins, a sophomore majoring in Math and Philosophy
• Rachel Morris, a sophomore majoring in Interdepartmental Political Science and Philosophy
• Dylan Pittman, a sophomore majoring in Political Science, Economics and Spanish
• Neil Shah, a senior majoring in Mathematics, Finance, and Economics and a four-year member of the team

In advance of the competition, teams receive 15 cases to analyze with an eye to their ethical dimensions and quandaries. The team then develops extensive arguments justifying one line of action or another to resolve the moral tensions that each case poses. Team members are also to develop arguments in light of possible objections they might face from opposing teams and judges. In each round of the competition, one team is asked a question about a case and a team member is given 10 minutes to explain what the team recommends doing and why. The opposing team is allowed to comment on and challenge the first team’s answer, and the original team is then required to respond to the second team’s critique. Finally, the judges ask the first team questions about its position and its responses to the opposing team’s challenges. In the second portion of each match, the teams’ roles are reversed. Three judges then evaluate each team’s presentation, critiques, and responses. Typically, each match lasts over an hour, and all presentations, critiques, and responses must be done from memory. All 32 teams compete in three matches in the morning; the top eight teams from the morning competition move on to compete in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final matches in a single-elimination format.

IU beat the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in a narrowly contested quarterfinal round and bested the University of Miami in the semifinal round. In the final match, IU beat Clemson, the defending champion. In IU’s final case, the team was asked whether the US has a moral responsibility to convene an international conference to craft a treaty banning killer robots. Devin Carpenter argued at length that the US does not have a moral responsibility to ban killer robots but, given some of the putative benefits of including such robots for some military contingencies, the US should take the lead in crafting a treaty to restrict the use and types of robots.

Richard Miller, speaking on the team’s style and command of the material, noted “The most striking aspect of the team’s performance is the fact that each team member weighed in with a supporting comment or argument during the portion of the competition devoted to on-the-spot critique and response. They showed collective command of the ideas, concepts, and relevant facts regarding each case under review. On several occasions judges assigned IU a perfect 10 for this component of the competition. At the conclusion of the competition, a large audience of scholars in ethics from around the country rose to give the IU team a standing ovation, richly deserved.”

The IU team in the first morning round against Eckerd College. Eckerd College's case concerned omitting information on a job application. IU's case dealt with the morality of working for a company that produces shock ads (ads that aim to shock the public, and which may not have anything to do with the product).

Fall Selection and Regional Competition

The 2008-09 team. Front row: Laura Goins, Sandy Shapshay (sponsor), Devin Carpenter, Shana Bergen (coach). Back row: Richard Miller (Poynter Center), Dylan Pittman, Neil Shah, Rachel Morris. Miller noted that this year there were many interested students who applied to represent IU in the competition. The coach for 2008-09 was Shana Bergen, who has a BA from the University of Colorado and an MA from IU in Philosophy. Professor Sandy Shapshay from Philosophy was the faculty advisor, and Richard Miller from the Poynter Center was the sponsor.

The 2008-09 Ethics Bowl team competed in the November 1, 2008 regional competition at Marion College, where they placed second. Neil, Dylan, Devin, Shana (back row), Rachel and Laura (seated) posed with the plaque. DePauw University placed first in the regional competition. The cases for the regional were posted during mid-September and in January for the national competition. The IU team met approximately twice a week at the Poynter Center to develop and debate their positions on each case in advance of the regional and national competitions.

See recent Ethics Bowl teams for information on teams from 2006 to the present. See information about earlier Ethics Bowl teams for the teams from 2001-2005.