The Wake Forest Ethics Debate Team qualified for the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl following the 10th Annual Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl competition last November in Clearwater, Florida. This was only the second time the Team has competed in the S.E. Regionals. Wake Forest competed against 28 schools from across the country, finished in the top four, which qualified them to compete at the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl this spring.
“Our team formed a bit late this year and had limited time to prepare, but handled themselves like seasoned debaters and made a real impact in this competition. I could not be more proud of our students. They demonstrated exceptional command of the elements of ethics, philosophy and public policy as well as the skills needed to frame compelling and logically sound arguments,” said Charles Lankau, Ethics Debate Team Coach and Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University Schools of Business.
The Wake Forest Ethics Team is comprised of undergraduate students from a variety of major fields of study. Team members who represented Wake Forest in the Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl included George Bader (’15) (Captain), Emily Bryant (’15), Kevin Cirronella (’14), Venkat Manne (’17), Byron Nelson (’17), Paras Patel (’17), Samantha Sells (’16). The team is larger than the past two years of their existence, thanks to the sponsorship The Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character.
The Wake Forest Ethics Team is now preparing for the North Carolina Ethics Bowl that will be held in early February, in Raleigh,N.C., in addition to the National Ethics Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida in late February.
Ethics Bowl teams receive a set of cases containing ethical issues, in advance, to prepare for the tournament. During the competition, a moderator poses questions taken from a particular case and teams of five students take turns responding before a panel of judges.