The 2022-23 Santa Clara University Ethics Bowl team and their advisor, Prof. Erin Bradfield, pose with their fourth-place-winning trophy at the National Finals of the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl® in Portland, Oregon, March 2 to 5, 2023. Photo by Erin Bradfield.
Ethics Bowl is a team-based competition consisting of debate over a wide range of complex and pressing ethical issues. Topics range from business and professional ethics to personal relationships and social and political affairs.
The Santa Clara University Ethics Bowl Team, which is co-sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the SCU Philosophy department, has a long history of competition in the California Regional of the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) and in the National IEB Tournament. Each year, Ethics Bowl puts together a competition team to travel to the California Regional in December in hopes of qualifying for Nationals in February.
SCU has seen considerable success since its inception in 2012, with the 2017-18 team – Miles Elliot '19, Daisy Koch '18, Connor Holttum '18, and Jeff Kampfe '19 – prevailing over more than 200 other colleges and universities to win the twenty-second annual Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl championship. This was the first national championship win for Santa Clara, and it was also the first time a California team had ever won the nationals. The year prior, in 2016-17, Santa Clara’s team qualified for nationals and finished in fourth place. The team also made appearances at nationals in 2018-19, 2019-20, and hosted the California Regional Tournament during the 2020-21 season.
In the 2022-23 season, the team yet again reached the finals of the competition, placing fourth overall after just one loss at the National Tournament. That team’s members – Bailey Black ‘25, Harvey Chilcott ‘23, Daniel Hipon ‘24, Liam McBride ’24, Ariel Perlman ‘23, Kendall Schrohe ‘24, and Kailai Shen ‘24 – prepared under the guidance of Prof. Erin Bradfield, a senior lecturer in philosophy and faculty scholar at the Markkula Center.
Learn more about the 22-23 team and their journey to the APPE IEB National Tournament.
Participants in Ethics Bowl enroll in the PHIL 185 course during Fall Quarter, which is a 5-unit class that fulfills the following requirements: Philosophy Applied Ethics requirement or Upper Division Philosophy elective; Civic Engagement; and the Applied Ethics Pathway.
The Santa Clara University Ethics Bowl team is coached by Prof. Erin Bradfield, senior lecturer in Philosophy and Ethics Center faculty scholar.
For more information on joining or supporting the team, please email ebradfield@scu.edu.
