By Lauren Grizzle
Students competed in the “Ethics Bowl” Friday March 7 as they presented their views on ethical case studies.
Teams of five competed in the bowl. A panel of three to four judges scored each team according to the team”s ability to present its view on a case with clarity and reason.
“I think it is a great event because so many of us have been trained in moral reasoning because of our religious background, but few of us have been trained in ethical reasoning,” said Holly Cox, a teaching assistant for the Communications Law and Ethics classes.
One case in the first match asked whether it was ethically justifiable for a hospital to impose a surgical separation of two Siamese twins against the will of the parents.
Each team played two matches involving two ethical cases in each match. The moderator”s flip of a coin determined which team would respond to each case. The team chosen had eight minutes to present their side of the case.
Following the team”s response, the judges asked questions and then the other team had four minutes to respond to the first team”s view.
Each match had two moderators who facilitated the interaction of the teams, kept time and recorded the judges” scores.
“Most of the teams took the same ethical side on each case, but if we were at any other school, I think there would have been a huge difference in ethical views,” said Suzanne Walker, a moderator at the bowl and a junior from San Diego, majoring in English.
Many of the students involved in the bowl were communications and business majors.
The three-hour bowl ended with a closing ceremony at which students with the highest scores were honored.
