For the first time in Whitworth history, a team of students competed in the annual National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The team tied for fifth place in the competition, which was part of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Conference, in Cincinnati.
Whitworth's team, the Philosoraptors, defeated teams from West Virginia University, Marist College, in New York, and Dominican University, in Illinois, to go undefeated in the preliminary rounds. In the quarterfinal round, Whitworth narrowly lost to Clemson University, the defending national champion. The Philosoraptors competed against 31 other top-scoring teams from 10 regions across the U.S.
In the IEB, each team of three to five students receives a set of ethical issues in advance of the competition; moderators pose questions that are drawn from the sets to the teams at the competition. A panel of judges evaluates answers based on intelligibility, focus on ethically relevant considerations, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and deliberative thoughtfulness.
In preparation for the March 5 competition, Whitworth's interdisciplinary team analyzed 15 ethically complex cases pertaining to topics such as media ethics when reporting on business closures, the omission of employment information when searching for jobs, potential conflicts of interest for anthropologists conducting research under military contracts, and the censorship of religious materials in prisons.
To advance to the national competition, Whitworth took first place at the seventh annual Northwest Regional Ethics Bowl, hosted in November by The Boeing Co., in Seattle. Whitworth defeated groups from Central Washington University, Montana State University and the University of British Columbia to advance to the final round, in which it defeated another Montana State University team. This is the sixth time in seven years that a Whitworth team has placed in the semifinals or finals at the regional competition.
Members of the Philosoraptors are communications major Chris Caldwell, philosophy and theology double-major Heather Stevens, philosophy and English double-major Kelly Vincent, and political science and psychology double-major Nicole Holland, all '09, and philosophy and theology double-major Dan Herve, '10. The team was coached by Mike Ingram, professor of communication studies and associate dean for faculty development and scholarship, and Keith Wyma, associate professor of philosophy.
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