IWU Ethics Bowl Team preparing for another trip to National Competition

IWU
The IWU Ethics Bowl Team is preparing for the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl later this month. (WJBC File Photo)

By Andy Dahn

BLOOMINGTON – When you hear the words “National Championship”, you may think of football or other major sporting events. But it has an entirely different meaning for members of the Illinois Wesleyan Ethics Bowl team, currently preparing to compete in the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl for the third time in five years.

Team Coach Emily Kelahan explained how the championship works.

“The team is given a question on the day of the competition,” Kelahan said. “They do not know in advance what question they’ll be answering. They have to develop a response as a team with two minutes of prep time. One of the things that they must do during their constructive speech is take a position, and also consider counterarguments to that position.”

Kelahan said studying all types of philosophical readings is how many of the participants prepare for the championship. Questions cover a wide variety of topics including professional, political and social ethics. Kelahan said the questions require much more than a yes or no answer.

“We don’t have good answers to these questions about what is right and wrong,” said Kelahan. “In truth, it’s all debatable. It’s about the strength of the case that you can make for your position. No position is invulnerable to objection. There is no perfect ethical space we might occupy.”

IWU is one of 32 schools in the country to compete in the competition, being held on Feb. 21 in Washington D.C.

Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…