The University of Detroit Mercy Ethics Bowl made its post-pandemic return in October.
Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, teams gathered in the Student Union to discuss and debate cases connected to ethical issues including the proper balance of protection and liberty for persons with intellectual disabilities, termination of overly demanding professors, book banning, and rights of parents to shape curricula. In front of judges drawn from Detroit Mercy faculty, staff, and off-campus guests, teams presented their moral arguments and critiqued those of their opponents.
The quality of the discussion was high throughout. By late afternoon the undefeated team Tomato Sandwiches (made up of Political Science majors Isabelle Francis, Kelsie Shammami, Juan Willis and Kaleb Smith) was announced as the competition’s winner.
The other all-Political Science team, Conundrum Crusaders, took second place. Made up of Morgan Rhodes, Cristal Guzman, Gavin Rapuzzi, Colin Graettinger and Liam Gilbert, the Conundrum Crusaders were also impressively undefeated, but in the end had accumulated fewer points than the Tomato Sandwiches.
DALC United (consisting in Anja Peters, Daniella Samano, Lance Poole and Chloe Wiggins) finished strong in third place. Judges were also impressed with the 7-year dental students who made up the Three Stooges (Adam Allam, Cooper Sorokolit, Lokesh Gummadi and Heewoong Kim), and the team of Biology majors, Top Gs (Mahdi Ayoub, Yaheia Moussa, Zaid Aboona and Marc Naddaf).
The Tomato Sandwiches went on to compete at the regional competition held at University of Chicago, winning their first round, but ultimately losing to Western Michigan University.
“Dave (Koukal) and I really felt that we should have finished 3-1,” said Detroit Mercy Ethics Bowl Coach and Professor of Philosophy Marty Leever. “We did face an exceptionally well-prepared Macalester College, so they deserved the win in our 4th match. But the kids were so resilient. The disappointing losses did not stop their laughter and fun. We went out to Portillos and talked about everything under the sun.”