Union’s Ethics Bowl Team recently won an exhibition match at Williams College, debating two cases involving the relationship between religion and public policy.
The first case asked whether exceptions to the brain-death criteria used by most hospitals and states should be permitted on the basis of religious beliefs, while the second questioned the appropriateness of the National Park Service’s Grand Canyon gift shop to sell a creationist account of the formation of the Canyon in the science section of the bookstore.
“These were complex and controversial cases, and our team did a great job articulating and defending interesting and nuanced positions on these issues,” said team advisor Michael Mathias, noting that all three judges (Williams’ philosophy chair, a bioethicist and a geneticist) voted in Union’s favor.
Team members include Will Fitzsimons ’08, Meagan Keenan ’09, Samantha Miller ’07, Nordo Nissi ’07 and Heidy Sanchez ’07. The team extends special thanks to Professors George Shaw (Geology), Linda Patrik (Philosophy) and Robert Baker (Ethics) for discussing the cases with them.