“One of the greatest aspects of this experience for students is that they are required to take both sides of an issue. It teaches them how to not only defend a particular position that they have, but also to modify it and take the perspective of those who may have a very different understanding of the issue,” said Celia B. Fisher, Ph.D., Marie Ward Doty University Chair in Ethics, psychology professor, and director of several Fordham organizations. “It also moves us toward a more inclusive form of citizenship, which we need right now in this time of polarization.” 

Navigating ‘Thorny Ethical Issues’

For more than two decades, college students across the U.S. have competed in the national bowl and debated moral dilemmas. 

“It’s really important to get people together to talk through these sorts of conflicts,” said Steven Swartzer, Ph.D., coach and advisor for Fordham’s team and associate director for academic programs and strategic initiatives at Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education. “If you have people come together who are willing to try to figure out how to listen empathetically and see what’s driving the ideas of the other person, I think we can make a lot of progress when it comes to thorny ethical issues.” 

This semester, Swartzer formed a team of six students from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, and the Gabelli School of Business. They met weekly on Zoom and studied 15 case studies that were provided in advance of the competition. Among the debate topics were the moral justification behind acts of political violence, including this past summer’s protests over the murder of George Floyd, and whether or not Harry Potter fans who have rejected J.K. Rowling’s controversial tweets about the transgender community should also reject her work. 

The team prepared with mock presentations, commentaries, and Q&A sessions, with Swartzer acting as judge. On game day, they wore Fordham maroon to the competition. 

In addition to the normal challenges of working remotely as a team, the group had to overcome some unique obstacles.

Victoria Munoz, a senior accounting major at the Gabelli School of Business and a student in the Accelerated BA/MA in Ethics and Society program, competed two hours ahead of her teammates. She logged in from El Paso, Texas, where the competition start time was 6 a.m., while her three teammates on the East Coast settled in at their computers at 8 a.m. Every time she entered or left a Zoom breakout room, there was also a slight time delay due to technical glitches on Munoz’s end. 

“We only had three minutes to prepare [our statement]. So instead of three minutes, I had two minutes and 30 seconds,” Munoz said. “And for the Q&A section, you only got a 30-second conference period, but our team wouldn’t even take it because by the time I’d get in, we’d have to come out. That was a disadvantage for sure.” 

Debating Dementia and Housing Evictions Amid COVID-19

In their first round against Yale, Munoz and her teammates debated the ethics behind concealing medication in food for dementia patients who were no longer lucid. They argued it was unethical, and won their case. 

“Upholding a patient’s dignity is sometimes put on the back-burner with our healthcare system, because everyone’s so overworked and rushing. So we said that it was understandable that a healthcare worker would want to conceal the medication, but ultimately, that wasn’t the most ethical thing to do,” Munoz said. 

“If we want to be completely ethical, we would have to devote time into restructuring our healthcare system to allow for each patient to have the time needed.” 

Another case considered the morality of housing evictions in a pandemic. Jada Heredia, a junior political science and philosophy major at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, argued that evictions shouldn’t occur during a pandemic because they would increase the danger of viral transmission to the local community. There were other factors to consider as well: What about landlords losing income? Is the relationship between landlords and tenants fundamentally exploitative? Should people have to pay for shelter? How can society reorganize the housing system to make it non-exploitative, yet meet everyone’s basic human needs? 

“There is no such thing as a solitary issue,” said Heredia, who plans to work in the legal profession. “Every case where there’s an ethical dilemma always relates to a greater system; set of values; institution; or network of causes, effects, and impacts on people that requires consideration as well.”

The team placed 13th out of 20 teams, winning against one of two teams from Yale University, losing to the United States Military Academy at West Point and Boston College, and tying with University of Maryland, College Park. 

“This competition made me realize that every single industry will [relate to]ethics,” said Munoz, who plans on becoming a certified accountant and will advise companies on how their accounting processes can be more ethical as an intern at Deloitte next summer. 

“It’s always been true, and it’s growing to be even more true now.”

It was a big moment for the graduates—whose parents, spouses, and children cheered them on loudly in the McGinley Center. A college degree is an accomplishment anyone should be proud of, but for the adult and nontraditional students at PCS, the road to graduation is often more complex.

“For most of us,” said Leeolou, 24, “making it to this day may well have demanded a bit more creativity or resourcefulness than it did for those who had a more traditional student experience.” She liked the sound of the word “nontraditional,” she said from the podium, joking that it has a nice “Steve Jobs” ring to it.

But all “nontraditional” really means, she said, “is that we found ways to make success possible regardless of our circumstances.”

That was certainly the case for Leeolou. A ballerina from Long Island, she began dancing in Manhattan when she was 10. She trained and performed in some of the best institutes and companies in the world, from Moscow to New York City. In 2009, she enrolled part time at PCS while she continued to dance.

Changing Course

But soon after, injury struck. Leeolou had been dancing on a bad stress fracture when she broke an ankle, tore a tendon, and dislocated bones. After several surgeries and painful rehabilitation, she decided to focus completely on her education and started a full-time schedule at Fordham. She calls her diverse group of classmates a “highlight” of her education.

“Being in school with other adults and people from all walks of life really helped me transition during a very difficult time,” said Leeolou, who graduated summa cum laude. She completed a double major in psychology and theology and a minor in bioethics, all while continuing to make public appearances as an advocate for those suffering from severe psoriasis, a painful autoimmune disease she’s had since birth.

“The flexibility of my schedule through PCS permitted me to attend conferences and work,” she said.

Leeolou had to manage the disease—which attacks the skin and joints—throughout her dancing career. There were times when psoriasis covered 80 percent of her body. Sometimes she’d have to apply hot compresses and ointments each morning, just so her skin would be supple enough to move. Patients living with the condition often have trouble getting insurance companies to pay for their medication, so Leeolou advocates for better patient access to the drugs they need. She’s spoken at national and international conferences, and appeared on The Dr. Oz Show and other TV programs.

Discovering a Passion for Medicine

“For me [the bioethics minor] was the intersection of patient advocacy work that I’ve been doing and medicine. It was fabulous,” she said. The program introduces students to critical moral questions related to individual, public, and global health, and focuses on healthcare decision-making and health policy.

Leeolou said she’s passionate about pursuing a career in the field because it will allow her “to recognize the sick and disabled as individuals, representative of courage and deserving of dignity,” and to “harness the memory of my painful symptoms and use them as tools of empathy.” She’s been accepted to two graduate programs in medical ethics for the fall—at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. She hopes to eventually go to medical school.

Charles Camosy, PhD, associate professor of theology, taught Leeolou in two bioethics courses. He praised her determination.

“I’m not sure I’ve encountered a student with her combination of raw brain power, other-centered heart, and fierce will,” he said. “Melissa simply won’t let anything stand in the way of her helping the vulnerable and the sick.”

Leeolou also made a splash in the psychology department, where she received the inaugural Anne Leicht Service Award, named for a former administrator in the department who died in 2011.

Harold Takooshian, PhD, professor of psychology at Fordham, nominated Leeolou for the award. He said she stood out as a star in his classes, writing a paper on homicide survivors that he called “by far the best undergraduate report I have seen in 40 years.”

A career in medicine seems like a perfect fit for her, Takooshian said. “There’s some passion in her that I can see is going to make her an excellent physician.”

Talent and Dreams Intersect

Reflecting on her college career in her graduation speech, Leeolou said she was grateful that Fordham allowed her to excel at the things she was most passionate about.

“Fordham understands that talents come in many forms, and that the most valuable education is one that connects with individual interests of the students, where each student discovers not only a wealth of knowledge but also where their talents and dreams intersect.”

To her fellow graduates, she said, “I hope that that life surprises us. I hope it transforms us.”

But spend an hour with Elizabeth Yuko, PhD, and you will see the 1980s sitcom for the plucky, forward-thinking enterprise that she says it is.

Yuko, a bioethicist at Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education and a longtime Golden Girls fan, is using the show to introduce the public to contemporary bioethics. In her new talk, “Everything I Know About Bioethics I Learned from The Golden Girls,” Yuko draws on scenarios from the show—which this year celebrates the 30th anniversary of its pilot—to illustrate ethical dilemmas.

She has presented her lecture in Queens and Cleveland, Ohio, and will be presenting it again this Friday.

“When I started studying bioethics, I realized that The Golden Girls had dealt with a lot of important questions, such as in vitro fertilization, organ donation, and body modification. And it wasn’t just a token episode here or there—it was a staple of the show to have these difficult issues addressed,” said Yuko, the program administrator for the Fordham HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute and the editor of Ethics & Society blog.

“I thought using these familiar characters and examples would be an interesting way to teach people about the principles of bioethics and how they work.”

In one episode, for instance, the character Sophia learns that an elderly friend has decided to end her life via euthanasia, and Sophia must decide whether or not to support her by being present for her death. Ultimately, she shows up to support her friend, but then dissuades her from ending her own life. (A case study in patient autonomy, Yuko said.)

In another episode, Rose receives a call from the hospital to inform her that a blood transfusion she had just received might have been infected with HIV.

“As she’s waiting for the test results, Rose has a conversation with Blanche about how she is a good person and that this shouldn’t be happening to her, to which Blanche replies that HIV and AIDS aren’t a ‘bad person’s’ disease,” Yuko said. “At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, a statement like that was huge.”

The show also takes up issues of social justice, such as marriage equality (Blanche’s brother marries his longtime partner) and the equitable distribution of resources (The Girls become dismayed over the poor conditions at a nursing home that is grossly underfunded).

“They were able to get away with things that other shows couldn’t, because the women were more mature,” Yuko said. “Their age and life experience meant that these issues came up organically—it didn’t seemed forced or didactic. It was a good context for considering these difficult issues, whereas other shows might not have been as ideal.”

Find out details about Yuko’s upcoming presentation here.