APPE IEB® National Competition

Undergraduate students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took home the national championship in the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (APPE IEB)®, which was held February 24 and 25 in Cincinnati. The final match against University of California, Santa Barbara featured cases about AI and affirmative action.

In the final, the students discussed the following questions:

• What sorts of limits should be put on AI, in light of the threats it poses, and whose responsibility is it to impose those limits?
• Given that "not one university or college president has said they will step back from their commitment to achieving diversity," which means of furthering diversity are morally permissible and which are not and why?

Over two days, 36 teams of undergraduate college students from across the country wrestled with these and other thorny issues using a set of cases that were drawn from real-life ethical challenges in education, business, life, and politics. The teams participating in the APPE IEB®, were judged not by their answers to specific questions, but by their ability to identify and analyze the ethical dimensions of each case in a clear, focused, and thoughtful manner and with an appreciation for varied perspectives.

A team of case writers works on cases throughout the summer and fall and students have approximately two months to prepare for the competition. More than 200 teams from more than 150 schools compete in regional competitions each fall to earn a berth to the national competition.

Semi-finalists in the competition were teams from Taylor University and Whitworth University and Quarterfinalists were teams from Georgia Tech, Stanford University, Utah Valley University, and Vanderbilt University.

The national competition is held in conjunction with APPE’s annual conference each year.