Edelstein, Raiyan Syed, Adeel Khaleel and Nell Alk
The
College's Ethics Bowl team made it all the way to the quarterfinals before
bowing to Navy, the eventual winner of the whole competition.
The
team, the first from Union to enter the event, traveled to Charlotte, N.C., to compete with 40 other teams on Feb. 27 in the ninth
annual contest.
Representing
Union were Raiyan Syed '03, a political science major; Jeffrey
Marshall '05, philosophy; Mohammed Khaleel '03, bio-econ ID/Leadership in
Medicine; Eleanor Alk '06, undeclared; and Aaron Edelstein '05, organizing
theme in American ethics. Team researchers were Jamie Werner '05, a political
science/philosophy ID major; and Justin Geist '03, political science.
The team
was sponsored by the College's Philosophy Department and coached by Michael Mathias, visiting assistant professor of philosophy. Support came from
a grant from the Intellectual Enrichment Fund.
Ethics
Bowl combines the excitement of a competitive quiz with an innovative approach
to education in practical and professional ethics, Mathias said. A moderator
poses questions to teams of three to five students. Questions may address
ethical problems in classroom topics (e.g., cheating or plagiarism),
professional ethics (e.g., issues in engineering, law, medicine or business),
or social and political ethics (e.g., free speech or gun control).
The
Ethics Bowl was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association
for Practical and Professional Ethics. After competing, students met
practitioners, professionals and scholars for discussion of issues in practical
and professional ethics. Mathias hosted a conference session on business
ethics.
Union's
team went two-and-one in the opening round, losing to Milliken
University from Illinois
before beating Manhattan College
and host UNC Charlotte.
“It was great to see the
enthusiasm of our students in talking with others from around the country about
ethical issues,” Mathias said. “For all the good we did in the competition, the
value of the preparation they put into it was just great.”