USNA Ethics Team to Compete in Regional Ethics Bowl

The Naval Academy Ethics Team will compete in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ethics Bowl Nov. 19 at the University of Baltimore.

The competition is a qualifying site for the 2012 National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl which will be held March 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ethics Bowl case studies will cover topics such as voting rights, protecting endangered species at the cost of indigenous societies, ethical hiring practices, home schooling, and drug trafficking, among others.

The Naval Academy Ethics Team recently won top prize for their division in the Collegiate Ethics Case Competition held at the University of Arizona Oct. 25-27. The team proceeded to the final round where they ultimately won 3rd place out of 30 teams from universities around the country.

The Collegiate Ethics Case Competition is designed to challenge students to analyze a timely ethical case with real-world business application. The 2011 case, developed by EthicsPoint Distinguished Lecturer Paul Melendez and senior lecturer in management at the University of Arizona Suzanne Cummins, asked the students to assume the identity of a risk mitigation team at a local bank and respond to a family considering a strategic default on their mortgage.

The participating teams received the case parameters prior to the competition and were given two weeks to study the case and put together a Power Point presentation and executive summary of their recommendations.

During the onsite competition, the teams were broken up into four divisions of 7-8 teams and presented their analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges in two rounds. Midshipman 1st Class David Emert and Midshipman 3rd Class Clif Luber represented the Naval Academy’s team during the presentations.

“I think much of our success is due to the help we had in our preparations from the entire team, not just myself and Clif who actually competed,” said Emert. “Given only two weeks to put together our product, the efforts of all members of the team were needed to create and fine-tune our presentation.”

The judges rated the team performances on a number of criteria – including delivery, depth of analysis, persuasiveness, recommendations, and responses to questions – then advanced four teams to the final round.

“I am especially proud of our finish because the majority of competitors were in business or finance-related majors,” said Emert. “We were able to take them on in their own field, a field foreign to us, and do quite well.”

Read more about the Naval Academy Ethics Team and view videos of their competition presentation at www.usna.edu/Ethics/appe.htm.