Ouachita Stories

A team of Ouachita Baptist University students earned fifth place in the 25^th Annual Texas Regional Ethics Bowl on Friday, Nov. 12, in San Antonio.

Team members are Carter Bunn, a sophomore political science and history double major from Farmington, Ark.; Trey Nichols, a junior political science major from Cabot, Ark.; Parker Nelson, a sophomore biology major from Alexander, Ark.; Nathan Scolaro, a junior criminal justice major from Mount Pleasant, Texas; and Sarah Titus, a junior biology major from Alexander, Ark. They are coached by Dr. Byron Eubanks, Ouachita professor of philosophy, and Dr. Matt Douglass, assistant professor of philosophy.

Ouachita’s team, along with others in the competition, prepared for the ethics bowl by analyzing nine cases to identify ethical issues and alternative responses. Team members divided up the cases; when a case came up in the competition, the students who had prepared that case took the lead. The competition involved informed, civil discussion of the cases with other teams. Judges evaluated the efforts by each team to see who best presented the cases, and the top three teams received bids to the national ethics bowl competition in Portland, Ore., during the spring semester.

“We came in fifth out of 16 teams,” said Eubanks, “but our three wins and zero losses record is the best performance of a Ouachita team so far.”

The team divided up the cases, and when a certain case came up, the students who had prepared that case took the lead.

“It felt great to win all our matches,” said Douglass. “I was more impressed with how the team worked together, how they interacted with the other teams and especially how they responded to the judges’ questions.”

For more information about Ouachita’s ethics bowl team, contact Dr. Byron Eubanks at [email protected] or (870) 245-5521, or Dr. Matt Douglass at [email protected] or (870) 245-5300.

Lead photo: Members of Ouachita's ethics bowl team are (from left) Parker Nelson, a sophomore biology major from Alexander, Ark.; Nathan Scolaro, a junior criminal justice major from Mount Pleasant, Texas; Sarah Titus, a junior biology major from Alexander, Ark.; Carter Bunn, a sophomore political science and history double major from Farmington, Ark.; and Trey Nichols, a junior political science major from Cabot, Ark. Photo by Byron Eubanks