Spring 2013
VILLANOVA DEBATE TEAM COMPETES IN NATIONALS
On February 28, the Villanova University Ethics Debate Team competed in the Seventeenth Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Championship in San Antonio, Texas. Villanova’s team received a bid to nationals after an impressive third-place finish in the Northeast Regional competition in the fall. The Championship is hosted by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics and draws teams from universities throughout North America. Debating topics that included the Citizen’s United decision, prenatal testing, and geo-engineering, Villanova competed against Ripon College (WI), UC Santa Cruz, and Oklahoma City University in the opening rounds. With an exemplary performance, Villanova won two out of the three matches, suffering a narrow loss to Ripon College. For the second consecutive year, Villanova’s one loss came in a split-decision by the judges, one of whom described the match as “the best I’ve seen in years.” With the loss, Villanova just missed advancing to the elimination rounds and finished 15th out of 32 teams.
The members of the Villanova University Ethics Debate Team are Robert Duffy, a senior Philosophy major; Christin Sagui, senior Biochemistry major; Andrew Speen, senior Economics major; Dean Nickles, senior History major; Brendan Burke, junior English major; and James McConeghy, sophomore Business major. The team is coached by Mark Wilson and sponsored by Mark Doorley, both professors in the Ethics Program. Congratulations to the 2013 Ethics Debate Team for a fantastic season! Students interested in joining the team should contact Professor Wilson (mark.wilson@villanova.edu).
Fall 2012
On March 1, 2012, the Villanova University Ethics Debate Team competed in the Intercollegiate National Ethics Bowl Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. This competition, held annually in conjunction with the meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, brings the top 32 teams from universities across the country to compete in a winner-take-all format. Despite a very strong showing, Villanova University missed advancing to the championship rounds. After a decisive victory over West Virginia University in its opening match, Villanova suffered narrow losses to the University of British Columbia and the 2010 National Championship University of Alabama-Birmingham. Both matches involved split decisions by the judges and very small margins of defeat. Whitworth University won the national competition, defeating Clemson University in the finals.
Congratulations to Villanova’s team on an outstanding season! The members of the 2011-12 Villanova Ethics Debate Team are: Kevin Ryan (senior, philosophy), Christin Sagui (junior, biochemistry), Katherine Sencion (junior, chemistry), Dean Nickles (junior, history), Andrew Speen (junior, economics), and Brendan Burke (sophomore, English). The team is coached by Professor Mark Wilson and sponsored by Professor Mark Doorley in the Ethics Program. Anyone interested in participating on the Ethics Debate Team should contact Mark Wilson (mark.wilson@villanova.edu).
