W&L Ethics Bowl Team Qualifies for National Competition The team secured its place with a third-place finish at the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl regional competition in Chicago.
The ethics bowl team, L to R: Amanda Tan ’26, Saaraim Nuñez ’27, Will Moore ’28, Prof. Paul Gregory, Roman Schlichter ’26, Ana de Oliveira ’27Five Washington and Lee University students became the first ethics team from W&L to qualify for the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championship after posting a third-place finish at the Upper Midwest Regional APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl competition held Nov. 16 at the University of Chicago.
The team, consisting of captain Roman Schlichter ’26, Amanda Tan ’26, Ana de Oliveira ’27, Saaraim Nuñez ’27 and Will Moore ’28, won three rounds and tied one other at the regional competition to secure one of the coveted spots in the national competition.
“The day was filled with intense discussion and focus throughout each round, with whisper-filled conferral times flying by and each of us stepping up for judge’s questions with thoughtful responses,” said Tan. “We presented a case that I took point on, discussing our primary perspective, and it was a beautiful, fulfilling way to see the impact of our practices and how well each of us complemented each other in our responses.”
The national competition will feature 36 teams from 13 separate regions coming together Feb. 22-23 in Norfolk, Virginia. They will compete using prepared cases drawn from real-life examples in education, business and politics. More than 200 teams from 160-plus schools competed in the regional competitions to earn their spot in the national competition.
“The students have worked incredibly hard to get to this point,” said coach and professor of philosophy Paul Gregory. “This is only our second year in this competition, so to make it to nationals is an exciting achievement.”
The APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is an undergraduate ethical reasoning and argumentation competition. The competition is a collaborative and educational experience in practical and professional ethics. Teams analyze and present arguments centered around today’s most pressing issues and then go head-to-head in front of a panel of judges, offering their perspectives on the multiple ethical dimensions of the case.
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