By: Erik Pedersen, Senior Communications Manager
BALTIMORE – Teams of undergraduate students from across the region will gather at Notre Dame of Maryland University on Saturday, December 3 to discuss ethical issues related to some of today’s most pressing topics as part of the Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl. More than 200 teams will compete in a dozen regionals across the country, with 36 groups ultimately advancing to the National Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl next spring.
Notre Dame will be hosting the Northeast regional for a second-consecutive year. Last year’s group of NDMU students advanced to the national competition for the first time in school history after posting a top-three finish at regionals. This year’s team includes Raechel Bauer, Rebecca Becraft, Nana Fremah Nyarko, Nana Agyemang-Duah (alternate), Anisah Khattak (alternate) and Tinsaye Kirub (alternate).
Other schools traveling to NDMU for the regional ethics bowl include Cornell, Harvard, Montgomery College, Salisbury, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Tufts, UMBC, the U.S. Naval Academy, Wesleyan, and Yale. A sign-up form is available for those interested in serving as volunteer judges and moderators on Dec. 3. Opening remarks will begin at 9 a.m. in LeClerc Theatre.
In an ethics bowl competition, teams deliberate real-life ethical dilemmas posed in a set of cases that they receive months in advance. This year’s cases include issues around animal rights, sports performance enhancing drugs, social media freedom of speech, and punishment for Emmett Till’s accuser. Judges ask probing questions and evaluate the teams’ efforts to analyze the case’s issues in a clear, focused and thoughtful manner, and they help students understand and appreciate perspectives different from their own.
“Unlike debate, in ethics bowl, teams are not assigned ‘pro’ and ‘con’ sides of an ethical issue,” said Dr. Jessica Davis, assistant professor and chair of NDMU’s Philosophy Department. “Each team’s goal is to identify the various ethical considerations, analyze the importance of those and engage in civil discourse with another team that might expand the conversation based on its position or oppose it. Like in life, the cases are complex, difficult to resolve, and sometimes polarizing. Our goal with the ethics bowl is to help students see the value of continuing to engage with others despite difference, to understand more about views that differ from their own, and to help students think of collaborative solutions to solve societal problems.”
The 36 teams that receive a bid to move on to the national stage will be announced in early December. This 2023 APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl will take place on March 4-5, 2023 in Portland, Oregon.
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.