Azusa Pacific's Ethics Bowl team competes in the third round of the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National tournament against the University of Oklahoma on Feb. 27 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Courtesy: Rico Vitz
Azusa Pacific’s Ethics Bowl team headed to nationals for the first time this week and ended up placing 12th in the nation at the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. APU was one of 32 universities to compete.
According to associate philosophy professor and faculty adviser Rico Vitz, the five-member team finished as the top-performing university from the California Region after placing second overall in the December regional competition and being the only Council of Christian Colleges & Universities school there.
The team members received the cases for nationals in January, allowing only eight weeks of preparation, according to Vitz. Additionally, there were 15 cases as opposed to the twelve cases in the fall regional competitions.
“The funny thing about nationals is that we have less time to work with the cases but more cases to work with,” said sophomore English and philosophy double major Alain Leon, who joined the team this academic year. “You’re breathing, eating and sleeping cases.”
Azusa Pacific won two of its three morning rounds Thursday but did not qualify to advance to the quarterfinals. The tiebreaker between the teams that went 2-1 in the morning sessions was determined by the total of each teams’ points received in the three rounds.
The two victories came in rounds against Gonzaga University and University of Oklahoma. Against Oklahoma, the team argued cases on the naming of a park after Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and the ethics of mandatory quarantine for patients after radio-iodine therapy.
Senior political science and philosophy double major Austin Humphrey led the debate on the Confederate general case, and said he had “more of a personal stake” in it due to his French-Creole heritage.
“I thought I didn’t present the case well enough. I thought I let my emotions get to me at one point,” Humphrey said. “While the judges were deliberating, I was really nervous … [but] we won, so I was pretty stoked. When we left the room, we were two wins and one loss. … I thought that record could get us into the top eight, the quarterfinals, but we were tied [and] lost with the point differential for the last spot.”
Oklahoma also went 2-1 in the morning rounds before advancing to the quarterfinals on the tiebreaker and finishing second overall.
The APU team’s one loss came against Providence College in what Vitz described as a close round. The cases argued then dealt with the reward and penalization of employers who offer wellness programs as part of the Affordable Care Act and the potential limit of off-label antipsychotic drug usage.
Vitz said he believed APU presented the better case in the round against Providence College, which finished the competition in the top eight.
“We have three goals. One of them is performance, which we can’t control the outcome of,” Vitz said. “The higher goal, then, is to manifest intellectual virtue.”
The adviser described the team’s third and most important goal: to manifest Christ-like virtue.
“If they achieve their performance goal but not Christ-like virtue, then it’s a fail,” Vitz said. “I was really proud of them for doing both of those things.”
The team was formed fall 2011, when Vitz arrived at APU. This year the squad will graduate Humphrey and senior philosophy major Ysabel Johnston.
Johnston was on the team in fall 2012 but could not join it last fall due to scheduling conflicts. However, when senior Stefano Richichi from last semester could no longer make nationals, Johnston was asked to come back on the team.
“I was very excited. … I loved being on the team the year before,” Johnston said. “It worked out really well.”
Johnston said that although five members are not required, it is “extremely helpful” to be able to break up 15 cases among more people. And as the only female member, she said it was also helpful and “a little more sensitive” to have a female on the team to speak about specific cases that pertained to abortion and women’s rights issues.
Leon said if the team has “the same intelligence” next year, he knows members will return to nationals and hopefully make it to finals. Vitz expressed hopes to continue to attract students with “character of heart and intellectual character.”
“In a world where many people think Christians are intellectual and moral lightweights, having students like this gives them a chance to break those stereotypes,” Vitz said.