Union News

Artificial intelligence, mental health and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the art world are a few of the topics that students will hash out this weekend as part of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities’ annual Ethics Bowl. Wingate University’s six-member team will compete with those from 15 other campuses across the state at the Legislative Complex in Raleigh.

Ethics in Contemporary Society is the theme of the 12th annual bowl, the first in-person one since 2020, according to NCICU president Hope Williams.

Isaiah Moore, a freshman math major, says his fascination with philosophical quandaries made him eager to join Wingate’s team, which is led by Dr. Rob Prevost, a professor of religion and philosophy at the University for nearly three decades.

“When Dr. Prevost mentioned the concept of a competition where fellow students and I could collaborate to propose our own answers to ethical dilemmas, I could not pass up the opportunity,” Moore says. 

He said discussing and theorizing about the concepts that will be featured in the competition kept him abreast of current events and issues and helped expand his understanding of others’ perspectives as he considered all sides of an issue. Moore, who plans to be a software engineer one day, says his Ethics Bowl experience will help him collaborate with a team at work, but even more so benefit his life outside the classroom or workplace.

“The skills I am learning here will help me to become a more reasonable and developed person overall,” Moore says. “Anyone and everyone who enjoys teamwork and deep thinking should consider participating in the Ethics Bowl.”

Prevost says the team must think quickly and communicate clearly. Although they have been given 10 case studies in advance, they will not know what questions they’ll be asked until the event begins. The official team size is six, but in any particular round the team can have only four students at the table. 

“They are given a question and five minutes to come up with a reasoned response,” Prevost says. “Then they have to present it orally in front of the judges and the other team. It is quite a tense moment for the team itself. So at the heart of the competition is, in a way, courage.” He has helped the team brainstorm to try to predict what questions will be asked and, during recent practice sessions, has put them under the gun with a timer to better match the actual format of the event.

“The way that our team has prepared is by having weekly meetings either in person or through Zoom,” says junior Viviana Espinosa, a criminal justice major. “In these meetings we go over cases and think of ways as a team to further analyze these cases and gain as much information as possible.”

Sophomore psychology major Tanaka Nzombe says everyone should be engaging in these kinds of conversations. 

“I believe that being able to navigate your mind is an integral part of psychology,” Nzombe says. “Being able to articulate an argument is crucial in this event. You only have a short period of time. You have to be able to take prompts and immediately deconstruct them so that you can form cohesive and fluent arguments. In preparation, I have been able to sharpen all these skills.”

At least three of Wingate’s team members – Camila Collante, Brooklyn Vereen and Brigitte Amador – are considering careers in law, and all say that taking a deep dive into the case studies has boosted their critical-thinking skills. 

“I gained so much insight from these cases that I often use them outside of class and in other classes,” says Collante, a junior English major who took part in Duke University Law School’s PreLaw Fellowship Program last summer.

Amador, a double major in sociology and criminal justice, says the experience has taught her about the importance of “dissecting and analyzing an issue and coming up with a cohesive solution.”

Vereen says the practice has had more benefits than she anticipated.

“As an individual aiming at a law career, this experience is incredibly helpful,” she says. “Not to mention the sense of community, friendship, and leadership which I have experienced with other fellow ethics-team members and Dr. Prevost.”

Original source can be found here.