The competition, which is organized by Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education, was the first one held in person at Keating Hall on the Rose Hill campus. More than 50 volunteer judges and moderators also attended, most of whom were Fordham graduate and undergraduate students or alumni.

The event is one of a network of regional competitions across the country that are part of the National High School Ethics Bowl. Regis High School, which won the city competition at Fordham, also won the regional competition on Feb. 7 and will be heading to the National High School Ethics Bowl Championship in April in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Infectious Conversations

Monique Cauley, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior from Utah, was one of the volunteer judges. Cauley was part of the Fordham team that advanced to the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championships in December 2022, and found the experience to be so rewarding she happily gave up a Saturday to be a judge for her younger counterparts.

“This kind of ethics is infectious, and it was an experience I was very grateful to have as a college student,” said Cauley, an American studies major.

“It really pushes you to not only hone speaking skills but also reflect on some of the inner dynamics that might be happening in your brain, confront those biases, understand other people’s perspectives, and contribute to a team.”

Using Case Studies

One of her roles as a judge was to listen to teams from Xavier High School and Avenues The World School debate the merits of space exploration led by private-sector companies like Space X. She found real-world case studies to be especially convincing when she judged arguments.

“It shows a student can really connect any ethical issue to their life, and it gives a richer understanding of the topics,” she said.

Tackling Ethical Issues Old and New

Julian Bober, a senior at Regis High School, was on the team that bested Gregorio Luperón High School for Math & Science in the final round. His team’s topic was “Secession and the National Divorce.” It was his third time competing in an ethics bowl and his first in person at Rose Hill.

“It’s collaborative, and you’re also tackling a bunch of really important issues, whether it’s stuff that people have considered for centuries, like the morals of lying, or something brand new; we had a lot of fun discussing a case involving copyright and AI,” he said.

‘Not Just About Digging In Your Heels’

Steven Swartzer, Ph.D., associate director for academic programs and strategic initiatives at the Center for Ethics Education, said only students who’d previously competed in a college ethics bowl were eligible to be a judge.

“Given their experience in the ethics bowl, they understand the importance of making sure you’re seeing things from a lot of different perspectives,” he said.

“It’s not just about digging in your heels and pushing your own argument. It’s about understanding why someone might come to a different conclusion.”

This year’s team features Fordham College at Rose Hill juniors Erika Carmody and Frank Tarul, Fordham College at Rose Hill seniors Kerry Soropoulos and Shree Talluri, and Fordham College at Lincoln Center juniors Monique Cauley and Yeenon Yu.

Because they won all four rounds of the competition on Dec. 3, they have been invited to join the top 36 teams in the country at the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championships, which will take place in March in Portland, Oregon. 

They’re the first Fordham team to do so, and Steven Swartzer, Ph.D., associate director for academic programs and strategic initiatives at Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education, credited the work the students had done in Ethics in Action, a class he teaches that was created last year. The students were also singularly focused on parsing the possible scenarios that would be presented to them by a panel of three judges.

“Not only did we have our three-hour discussions in class, but I know that especially in the weeks leading up to the competition, they were having team meetings outside of those as well,” he said. 

“They were just a dedicated group of students who were really engaged and thoughtful, and everything just clicked at the right time.”

Although the students are given 15 cases to study when the semester begins, only eight are presented to them to discuss at the competition. This year’s cases included ones examining whether the government or oil companies should be held responsible for monitoring unused wells, what age young adults should be to make medical decisions without their parents’ consent, and whether the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake is permissible when it might cause harm to animals.

Swartzer said that although the format of the ethics bowl is similar to debate, in that one team makes its case and the other team comments on that team’s analysis, the goal is actually to work together to address an issue, not just poke holes in the other team’s opinion. To do that, they need to show an empathetic understanding of other perspectives. 

“They really are encouraged in their presentations and their analysis to explain why somebody might come to a different conclusion, and then engage with that alternative understanding, to try to get those people on board, or to show why those alternatives don’t ultimately work,” he said.

“Ultimately, they’re not just supposed to do a caricature of those opposing views, or create a straw man, but get at why someone who is reasonable and thoughtful might come to a different opinion about this, and then share how we can address those different opinions.”

“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.”