The Fort Lewis College Ethics Team returns from the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl national championship, that took place on Sunday, February 22, in Costa Mesa, California. While the team did not bring back a trophy, they did return with valuable experience.
The team earned their trip to nationals by merit of a 3-1 finish, that landed them the top spot at the regional competition held in November at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Mark Mastalski, Leadership Center director and coach of the Ethics Team, said.
As coach of the Ethics Team, Mastalski organizes team meetings to help prepare the students for the many different cases that can be presented to them in any given competition.
The Ethics Team arrived early in Costa Mesa to attend the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics annual conference, which also hosts the competition, senior Theresa O’Hare, member of the ethics team, said.
“There were 32 schools present,” she said. “The competition was debate-style format: one team versus one team, three judges and one moderator.”
During the competition teams are given prompts that can range anywhere from journalism, parental rights, cultural heritage rights, and industrial farming, Mastalski said.
The team includes Tyler Colle, Eric Smith, and O’Hare.
FLC’s Ethics Team went 2-1 on the day, without an advancement to the quarterfinals.
However, the team returns to FLC proud of their accomplishments. This is the first year the Ethics Team has made its way to the national competition, O’Hare said.
“It gave me a lot of perspective about how we compete in terms of our philosophy department in comparison to different departments,” she said. “It was awesome to see how Fort Lewis compares to other schools.”
FLC philosophy department helped in preparation for this competition, not only in out of class assistance, but also in how the classes are structured.
“A lot of what happens in class is we ask students to wrestle with these dilemmas and basically come to have reasons for their own views,” Justin McBrayer, associate professor of philosophy, said.
In order to prepare for the competition, the Ethics Team typically meets weekly. In addition to this two scrimmages that were held, one in November and the other in February. These scrimmages were meant to simulate what the actual competitions would feel like, Mastalski said.
The full-time philosophy professors served as judges during the scrimmages, providing prompts and feedback, McBrayer said.
Despite competition concluding for this year, O’Hare wants to encourage others to participate on the Ethics Team, even if they are not necessarily philosophy majors.
“I would like to encourage anyone who has any interest in debate, philosophy, ethics, and public speaking, or anything else to talk to Mark about joining the team next year,” she said.
The Ethics Team offers students an opportunity to display and enhance their skills in several different areas, Mastalski said.
“It is my hope that students experience a fun, competitive environment in which to discuss contemporary issues and take what they learn in class and further develop their learning by taking these issues head on.” he said.