USU Ethics Bowl Team Heads to National Competition

LOGAN — Following impressive first- and fourth-place wins at the Wasatch Regional Ethics Bowl in November, Utah State University is preparing to compete in the 2025 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Competition. The event will take place on Feb. 22- 23 in Norfolk, Virginia, where USU will join 35 other teams in tackling real-world ethical dilemmas in business, politics and society.

“This is a pretty good showing when you recognize how good all of the teams are at the regional level,” said Rachel Robison-Greene, USU Ethics Bowl coach and assistant professor of philosophy.

Ethics bowl competitions differ from traditional debate formats. Instead of arguing a predetermined stance, teams analyze complex ethical cases and present reasoned arguments for what they determine to be the strongest position. USU’s Ethics Bowl is open to students from all majors, fostering an interdisciplinary approach to ethical reasoning and problem-solving.

“Thinking carefully about ethics (leads) to a kind of improvement in your thinking,” said Mike Ashfield, assistant professor of philosophy and ethics bowl coach. “It's a way of disciplining your thinking, sort of forcing yourself to … slow down, think more carefully (and) more critically about things that you might have taken for granted most of your life.”

For students, the experience of participating extends beyond competition. Zara Staheli, an economics and philosophy major, highlighted its impact on her ability to gain important, job-ready skills — something she considers among the most “valuable” things she has done as a college student.

“It's such a unique way to … synthesize complex information and understand not only how to talk about certain issues but to look for sources of truth and backing and to understand how … conflicting arguments and how rebuttals and everything play into having a sound policy,” Staheli said.

Jackson Osmond, a student with aspirations in government service, emphasized the importance of the ethics bowl in shaping thoughtful leaders.

“It's a cooperative debate and not just, ‘This is my view, and this is why you should accept it and let me ignore your view,’” Osmond said. “Ethics bowl is perfect at building that cooperation and trust (so) we can actually resolve these problems in the future.”

USU’s team of 11 students has spent months preparing for nationals by researching this year’s 17 cases and honing their arguments. The competition in Virginia, sponsored by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, will test their ability to reason quickly and persuasively in front of a panel of judges.

“I think that the ethics bowl helps to develop students into strong citizens and effective employees who … are good critical thinkers and implement sound moral principles,” Robison-Greene said. “And in a world in which disagreement gets ugly, these are students who know how to disagree better.”

For more information about USU’s Ethics Bowl program, visit: https://chass.usu.edu/philosophy/opportunities/ethics-bowl.