Pictured above: Students on the steps of the Nott Memorial on the Union College campus in Schenectady NY.
From left to right, Top Row: Kyle Finkle, Caleb Aarsand, Tom Greenwood
Bottom Row: Amanda Husson, Stephanie Day, Mindy Johndro.


Six students from Husson University, Caleb Aarsand, Stephanie Day, Kyle Finkle, Tom Greenwood, Mandy Husson and Mindy Johndro, traveled to Union College in Schenectady, New York, to compete in the Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl on Saturday, November 12. The Ethics Bowl is an annual event sponsored by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics to provide a forum for college students to learn about contemporary ethical issues and hone their debate and reasoning skills. This year, teams from fourteen universities and colleges took part, including teams from Marist, Villanova, Colgate, and Dartmouth, whose excellent team was declared champion at the end of the day.

The six Husson students, all members of Dr. Clifton Guthrie's Introduction to Ethics course this semester, participated in the Ethics Bowl as part of their fulfillment of course requirements. The students met regularly in the weeks before the competition to research and discuss the fifteen published cases, but had no idea which cases they would be assigned once competition began. Each team member became the resident expert on two or three cases and so was the primary speaker if his or her case was announced at a match. There were three preliminary matches in the morning and at lunch scores and quarterfinal qualifiers were announced.

The Husson team started strong in the first round morning round against the team from St. John's University arguing a case in which parents decided to raise their children in a strictly gender-neutral way. The Husson team, led by Mr. Aarsand, argued that the potential harms to the small child caused by social role confusion outweighed the benefits of free gender choice that the parents were trying to insure. They earned high scores for their arguments from the panel of three judges but were narrowly beat by the St. John's team who presented a case involving the costs and benefits of home schooling. In the second round, Husson landed a tough case about whether the corporate practices of American Apparel could be morally justified. The Husson team argued that while many of its practices, including using sexual imagery to sell products and sexual permissiveness in workplace culture, are morally troubling, what American Apparel is doing does not amount to illegal harassment. The judges scored that round to the team from Stevens Institute of Technology. In the third round, however, the Husson team, led by Mr. Finkle, came out strongly condemning a recent Florida statute that prohibits doctors in that state from asking parents whether any guns they own are secured and inaccessible to children. The judges were impressed with Husson's arguments and a poignant example given by Ms. Husson, and gave them the victory over a very tough team from Marist College.

The Husson team represented our university well and feel justly proud of their first-time effort. They are glad to have come away with one victory in the competition against far more experienced teams. More importantly, they enjoyed matching wits against their peers at other institutions, and as a result of their participation they have learned more about how to apply ethical reasoning to moral questions. They are eager to return to next year's competition and improve their scores. They also want to express their thanks to the office of John Rubino, Vice President of Administration, which kindly provided the funding to make this academic venture possible.

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