KIE – CSUB Campus Ethics Bowl Features Undergraduate Ethical Debate

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In: Kegley Institute of Ethics

KIE – CSUB Campus Ethics Bowl Features Undergraduate Ethical Debate

Contributed by KIE Student Assistant, Josiah Youngblood

Hopes were high, and the questions were difficult! On March 20th, the 6th Annual CSUB Ethics Bowl – a competition in which students evaluate and discuss ethics cases and receive questions from a panel of judges – was hosted by CSUB Campus Programming and the Kegley Institute of Ethics. A big thank you is due to all the wonderful teams that participated in this year’s Ethics Bowl, and a huge thank you to the judges who also helped make this event possible.

Here’s a quick insight on the teams as well as the ethical topics that were discussed at the 6th Annual Ethics Bowl. 6 teams of CSUB undergraduate students competed, including:

  • The A-Team
  • Theories of Power
  • Team P.E.crew 10
  • Team M. D.  
  • Facts, Logic and Superior Power
  • Queen Bees

Only four teams (those with the highest scores) advanced from the first round of the competition: Team M. D.; Facts, Logic and Superior Power; The Queen Bees; and The Theories of Power. The first ethical questions were: “Is it ever ethical to ‘out’ someone? When is it unethical?” and “Is it unethical to arrest low-income people who have not paid fines? Why or why not?”

The next round featured the question: “In which kinds of situations would it be unethical to take a selfie? Why would it be unethical to take a selfie in those situations?”

The finalists were Theories of Power and Team M.D. with the winners at the end of the night being Theories of Power. The final ethical questions were “Is it unethical to visit zoos or aquariums? Why or why not?” and additionally “Should states allow people to be involuntarily committed for addiction to heroin/opioids? Why or why not?”.

With both teams verbally dueling, the judges had a difficult time deciding a victor. With one of the closest possible draws in history, winning by only 1 single point, Team Theories of Power claimed victory for the 6th Annual Campus Ethics Bowl.