Submitted by Saint Martin’s University
The Saint Martin’s Debate organization, now in its second year, will compete April 17 in the 2015 ICW Ethics Bowl, an event hosted by the Independent Colleges of Washington at Seattle Pacific University. The Ethics Bowl, which is free and open to the public, was selected by the ICW as the main, student-centered event to mark the organization’s 60th year of serving the 10 non-profit liberal arts college and universities in Washington.
This is the second annual ICW Ethics Bowl, a full-day, judged competition among the ICW’s member institutions of higher education. It is designed to showcase the students’ knowledge of applied ethics as a hallmark of their college experience at an ICW-member institution. Each of the 10 members is sending a team of up to five students to explore and defend real or hypothetical ethical cases that range from Affordable Care Act kickbacks to Zoo-thanasia, spanking and social media experimentation.
The Saint Martin’s Debate members for the 2015 Ethics Bowl are: Evan Lake ’17, Matthew Tietjen ’15, Simone Smith ’15, Alyssa Hancock ’15 and Jessica Varvil ’18.
The team members are working under the guidance of faculty advisors Father David Pratt, assistant professor of philosophy, and Michael Artime, adjunct professor of political science. “This is an exciting opportunity for our students to showcase their hard work this semester, evaluating the ethical considerations surrounding topics such as the distribution of Ebola vaccinations, campaign finance and progressive vacation policies instituted by businesses throughout the country,” Artime says.
“This is the final ethics bowl for Tietjen, Smith, and Hancock,” he adds. “These three students are the reason Saint Martin’s Debate exists, and it is going to be bittersweet to see them finish their collegiate debate careers and move on to exciting opportunities after Saint Martin’s.”
Business, community, judicial and political leaders will act as volunteer judges and moderators at the Ethics Bowl, including executives and staff from Boeing, Foss Maritime, Microsoft, Redfin, Saltchuk, the Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission, U.S. Bank, the Washington State Supreme Court, ICW’s Board of Directors and other notable local companies and organizations.
Member institutions of the Independent Colleges of Washington share a commitment to high-quality, academically rigorous learning, and to an education that emphasizes critical thinking, lifelong learning, ethics, leadership and community service.
The winning team will be announced later that evening at a private reception.
