January 29, 2016
Four of our students, junior Riley
Conrad, and seniors William Edmundson, Marlan Hare and Amberlea Villafane, will
represent Virginia Wesleyan at this year’s statewide collegiate Ethics Bowl,
sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) and Wells
Fargo, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. They will debate issues relating to “Ethics and
Civic Responsibility” on the campus of Hollins University, the site for this
year’s event. Our students will take a stand against 13 other highly qualified
teams from independent colleges and universities across Virginia, debating a
variety of case studies highlighting potential ethical dilemmas of a civic
nature.
To help prepare for the event, the
students will participate in an Ethics Bowl Demonstration tonight, Jan. 28,
organized by VWC’s Center for the Study of Religious Freedom. The program,
titled "Ethics & Civic Responsibility: When Religious Rights Feel
Wrong," will highlight some of the issues that the students may
debate—specifically those relating to ethics, civic responsibility and
religious freedom in America—and the audience will have a chance to interact,
critique, and discuss. I encourage our campus community to come to support our team.
The Ethics Bowl was established by the
VFIC as a means of engaging students with complex ethical dilemmas based on
studies of real-world cases. Students, faculty members, and distinguished professionals
judge and moderate the event, placing priority on personal ethics in the
workplace and the classroom. Virginia Wesleyan won the first-ever Ethics Bowl,
held in 2000 at the University of Richmond. The College hosted the event in
2005 and 2011, and VWC’s Ethics Bowl Team placed as runner up in 2014. For
additional information about the VFIC Ethics Program, visit www.vfic.org.
Thanks to Professor of Communication,
Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson, for serving as our faculty adviser and coach for the
team. I know you join me in wishing the Virginia Wesleyan Ethics Bowl Team well
at the competition this weekend. Good Luck!
