Each year the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at IU sponsors one team consisting of five undergraduate students to travel and compete in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The competition begins with ten regional matches in the fall that feed the national competition, held in the early spring. The Central States regional, in which the IU team competes, will be on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Marian College in Indianapolis.
The Ethics Bowl competition is presented annually by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics as a method of involving students in deliberating about and seeking to resolve difficult cases and situations. The national competition, which draws together the top 32 teams from the regional rounds, will be held on March 4, 2010 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics in Cincinnati, Ohio. IU won the national competition last year and in 2004.
At the national competition, the 32 participating teams compete in three rounds in the morning. The teams are given thirteen complex ethical and policy cases to study in advance of the competition, though they are not told what questions they will be asked about any case. For each match, one team is required to present a view on a case and then respond to questions from the opposing team and judges. Then the roles are reversed, and the opposing team presents an argument surrounding a different case, after which they respond to questions. Teams are evaluated at the end of each match for the quality of their arguments, responses, and counter-responses. The top eight teams advance to the quarterfinals, which are held in the evening.
Interested students should send their name, year, major (or possible major), along with a statement of interest by email, to:
Prof. Richard Miller (miller3@indiana.edu)
Director, Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions
IUB
Please reference Ethics Bowl in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed starting on September 21, 2009. Students should include information about their coursework and background in ethics, along with any questions about the Ethics Bowl team that they may have. Team members meet twice a week from around late September until the November regional event. If they are successful in being selected to participate in the national competition, they will again meet twice a week from the time second semester starts until the March 4 event.
See the web site, http://poynter.indiana.edu/ethicsbowl.shtml for more information about the event and about previous teams.
