Students in West Virginia University’s Ethics Bowl teams drill into and tear apart questions that aren’t easy.

They grapple with questions such as: Is it ethical to kill bulls in bullfights if it is a part of the cultural heritage of a country?

These students are so skilled at offering answers to dilemmas like this that one of WVU’s Ethics Bowl teams has advanced to the national competition for the second time in three years. The team will compete in the Seventeenth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl on March 3 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The University previously sent a team to the national competition in 2009.

“I’m really proud of the hard work that WVU’s two teams put into preparing for the regional competition, and we’re really excited about the chance to send a team to the national competition again,” said Matthew Talbert, assistant professor of philosophy and adviser for the Ethics Bowl team at WVU.

The WVU team qualified for the national competition when one of the two teams placed in the top three at the Central States Regional Competition at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Nov. 6. They competed against teams from Depauw University, University of Kentucky, University of Southern Indiana, Belmont University, University of Michigan, and Wright State University.

“I am on the ethics bowl team because it gives me an opportunity to think about and discuss important issues that face our society,” said Brendan Cline, a senior philosophy and biology major from Morgantown, W.Va. “The fact that WVU has made it to nationals shows that WVU has professors and students that are as talented as any in the country.”

The team received a new set of cases this month to prepare for the national competition. They are currently researching ethical questions that could be asked about these cases and preparing seven- to 10-minute oral presentations based on their answers.

“Presenting cases can be nerve-wracking, but it can be a lot more exciting than day-to-day class work, too,” said Yonina Hoffman, a member of the team and a senior philosophy and English major from Morgantown. “In class, participation moves at a slower and more measured pace. Debate skills are fun to exercise.”
Cline and Hoffman will be joined at the national tournament by James Prentiss, a senior philosophy major from Cleveland, Ohio; Leila Famouri, a senior philosophy and biology major from Morgantown; and Christopher Smith, a junior philosophy major from St. Albans, W.Va.

For more information, contact Matthew Talbert, assistant professor of philosophy, at (304) 293-3641 or Matthew.Talbert@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

aw/11/29/10

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
304-293-7405, ext. 5251, Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu

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