BALTIMORE – The St. Mary’s College of Maryland Seahawks Ethics Bowl Team tied for second place at the Chesapeake Regional Ethics Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 6, hosted by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In doing so, the team secured one of three available bids to the 2026 National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, scheduled for March 7-8 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Competing against 13 other schools, St. Mary’s won all four preliminary rounds, defeating teams from Villanova University, Penn State University, Tufts University, Temple University, Princeton University, and Virginia Tech, among others. The Seahawks advanced to the semifinal round, where they tied Washington & Lee University.
This marks the fifth time in the past 13 years that St. Mary’s College has qualified for the national competition.
The seven-member team consisted of students Bechorah Aguoru, Philip Eisenstein, Argyrios Tasikas, Mason Lipczenko, Lainey Shankle, and Ella Skidmore, coached by Michael Taber, associate professor of philosophy.
Throughout the fall semester, team members researched the 15 case studies released in advance by the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl organizers. While the broad topics were known, the specific questions posed in each round were revealed only minutes before presentation, requiring rapid analysis and clear articulation under timed conditions.
At the regional event, St. Mary’s presented on four cases:
- Whether a criminal record should automatically disqualify a political candidate from holding office, using the example of French politician Marine Le Pen.
- Whether justice systems should recognize femicide as a distinct crime category to emphasize gender-based violence, or whether doing so risks unequal application of the law.
- Whether new composting methods that convert human remains into soil show proper respect for the person or risk treating human life as mere material.
- Under what conditions, if any, the use of shock tactics involving animal cruelty can be ethically justified to draw attention to industrial farming practices.
In the semifinal round, the Seahawks addressed the question of how destinations should manage overtourism while balancing the interests of local residents, visitors, and national political sovereignty.
Unlike traditional debate, Ethics Bowl scoring rewards depth of moral reasoning, responsiveness to the opposing team’s arguments, and collegial dialogue. Teams may agree with one another and often suggest ways the other side could strengthen its position. Judges evaluate presentations on clarity, deliberative thoughtfulness, and ethical insight rather than on winning an adversarial exchange.
The Seahawks credited several campus supporters for their success. Mandy Taylor, director of the Writing and Speaking Center, along with center tutors, conducted a key practice session. Fiscal associate Lucy Myers handled travel and administrative logistics.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a public honors college located in St. Mary’s City, has built a strong Ethics Bowl program since first fielding a team more than a decade ago. The national appearance in March will be the program’s fifth, placing it among the consistent regional performers on the Mid-Atlantic circuit.
The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is organized by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) and supported by endowments and university sponsors nationwide. More than 300 teams typically compete in regional events each fall, with roughly 36 advancing to the national finals.
