Ethics Bowl Team Qualifies for National Competition

Dec. 4, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Once again, the Ethics Bowl team at Illinois Wesleyan has achieved a major accomplishment. One of the two teams at IWU was awarded second place in the regional conference, earning a bid to compete at the national competition. With the support of the Office of the Provost and Student Senate, the qualifying team will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. in February 2014 to compete at the National Ethics Bowl competition.

The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, a team competition that integrates originality and resourcefulness, presents students with troubling and complex ethical issues that are present in today’s society. For the competition, students must argue and defend their innovative moral assessments of and responses to these issues.

Both IWU teams competed in the Upper Midwest Regional Ethics Bowl in Chicago on November 23.

The qualifying team includes senior Ben White, junior Anh Dao, sophomore Steph McAtee and first-year students Brigitta Jakob and Jordan Staley. Seniors Jaret Kanarek, Jake Bates, Stephanie Fenty, Kent Larson and Jamal Smith constitute the other IWU team, which was a key element to the qualifying team’s success. First-year student Duc Nguyen has also helped with the team’s preparation.

The teams’ coaches are Emily Kelahan, assistant professor of philosophy, and Andy Engen, assistant professor of philosophy.

Kelahan highlighted the diversity of IWU’s teams. The professor said the participating students are from a variety of academic majors and an assortment of grade levels. They also participate in a wide range of sports and extracurricular activities, and no two students on the qualifying team are from the same state.

For additional information about IWU’s Ethics Bowl, contact Emily Kelahan, assistant professor of philosophy and co-coach of the team, at ekelahan@iwu.edu

Contact: Tia Patsavas ’16 (309) 556-3181, univcomm@iwu.edu