Fredonia team does well in Ethics Bowl Tournament

Philosophy Ethics Bowl Team  From left to right are: Jordan Horvath, president;  Professor Andrew Cullison, coach; Keli Cochran; Brian Gusmano; and Zack Teetsel, treasurer. Missing from photo: Elizabeth Brigham

Fredonia, N.Y. — Nov. 17, 2008 – SUNY Fredonia students recently competed in the Northeastern Regional Ethics Bowl Tournament at Villanova University. The debate-style competition, sponsored by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, focused on all theoretical or applied ethics issues. SUNY Fredonia did well but ultimately lost a chance to go to the nationals by a very small margin.

The students were undefeated in the first three preliminary rounds and were placed fifth out of the 18 competing teams, based on their overall score across all three rounds. The team continued on to qualify for quarter-finals, losing to a Williams College team by a very narrow margin of six points. One of the judges determined that the teams had tied, another judge awarded Williams college one more point and the last judge had Williams beating SUNY Fredonia by five points.

“We should be very proud of how well our students did,” said Andrew Cullison, an associate philosophy professor at SUNY Fredonia and the Ethics Team coach. “Williams College has been rated the number one liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News and World Report and our students gave them one of the strongest performances I’ve ever seen.”

Cullison participated in the Ethics Bowl when he was an undergraduate student and is now an associate professor for the philosophy department, having coached the team for the past five years.

The five students who participated include Jordan Horvath, a sophomore philosophy major from Kent, Ohio, Keli Cochran, a sophomore communications major from Buffalo, NY, Brian Gusmano, a sophomore philosophy major from Henrietta, NY, Zachary Teetsel, a sophomore mathematical sciences/adolescent education major from Walworth, NY, and Elizabeth Brigham, a sophomore biology major from Oneonta, NY.