From debate to dialogue: In a contentious era, 'Ethics Bowl' offers students a gentler alternative

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A contrast:

At the National Speech and Debate Tournament, two high school students take the stage. The first articulates the position he has been assigned to defend — people should have a right to secede from their government — and why it is correct. Another student, assigned the opposite position, begins to systematically tear down her opponent's views.

A year later and 800 miles away, two teams of high school students convene at the University of North Carolina for the National High School Ethics Bowl finals. A moderator asks about the boundaries of discourse — when a public figure dies, how do you weigh the value and harm of critical commentary about their life?

Teams have not been assigned positions. One presents their ideas. The opposing team asks questions that help everyone to think about the issue more deeply. No one attacks.

Many a young debater may learn the rhetorical skills to become a successful lawyer or politician, subduing an opponent through wit and wordplay. But are they learning skills that will make them better citizens of an increasingly complex and contentious republic?

In an age when many Americans are wondering whether it is still possible to have a principled, respectful disagreement over important issues, proponents of Ethics Bowl say it points the way.

Ethics Bowl may resemble debate. After all, it's two teams discussing a controversial or difficult topic. But they are very different.

In Ethics Bowl, teams aren't assigned a specific position on an issue that they have to defend regardless of their beliefs. Instead, members are given cases to discuss and make their own decisions about what they consider the best position. Teams can, and often do, come to similar conclusions. It is — and this is important — OK for them to agree. Scoring is based on how deeply they explore the issues, including other viewpoints.

Robert Ladenson, who developed the Ethics Bowl as a college philosophy classroom exercise back in 1993 and went on to lead the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl for decades, explains what he considers an ethical understanding of an issue in an oral history for the University of Illinois in 2023.

It means “having some capacity to view, from the inside, the ethical outlooks of people who disagree with you. That means not simply being aware of what they’ve said or what they’ve written, or being able to develop a nifty debaters’ responses to the viewpoints they hold — but really looking inside the other view and trying to understand it from the other person’s way of looking at the world.”

That plays out at Ethics Bowl. Take the case “See Spot Clone,” about whether it is ever ethical to clone a beloved pet.

Harpeth Hall from Nashville starts the discussion with six minutes to present their thoughts. There are millions of homeless pets, so the ethical choice is to adopt, they believe. Cloning is self-serving for the human. The pet cannot consent to being cloned. Also, cloning may involve unknown health issues for the cloned pet, as in the renowned case of Dolly the sheep. The team also believes that death is a part of life, and it is important for people to confront death.

Now it is the turn of team B, Miami's Archimedean Upper Conservatory — not to attack and refute, but to ask questions that expand the discussion. What about pet breeders? Where do they fit on the ethical continuum? Also, what's so wrong with cloning a pet for your own happiness? Are all selfish pursuits bad?

Team A responds that breeding is better than cloning but worse than adopting a stray. They point out that a cloned pet will not have the same personality, and that could bring the owner pain instead of comfort.

Next the judges ask questions. What if there were no possible health problems for the cloned animal? What if the animal is not cloned to comfort an owner but for a more noble purpose? Would it be ethical to clone a skilled search-and-rescue dog?

Cloning is still a threat to the “natural cycle of life,” Team A contends. And there is no guarantee that the temperament and personality that make an excellent service animal would be retained in a clone.

Once the round is complete, the moderator introduces a new case.

In a society awash in shortcuts and simple solutions, simply setting the ground rules for contentious conversations can be a high hill to climb. At the Ethics Bowl, though, it's part of the point: The process of conversation is as important as the outcome. And subtlety matters.

A good Ethics Bowl case is one where “two well-meaning individuals can take in all of the same facts and information and come to diametrically opposite, value-driven answers,” says Alex Richardson, who directed the National Bowl for five years.

The cases students grapple with include real-life scenarios pulled from the headlines, like the less-than-respectful response to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. There are also more philosophical issues, like whether humans should pursue immortality. And there are dilemmas that teenagers deal with every day, like whether not posting on Instagram about a hate crime in your community makes you complicit.

That last case was a difficult one for the team from Harpeth Hall, they say, but it helped them clarify some of their thoughts around social media.

“We came to the conclusion that no one is obligated to share information,” says Katherine Thomas. “But then there was a difference like when you’re talking about Taylor Swift, when she actually could register 500,000 people to vote but she decides not to. Is she actually complicit in that? She has the actual power to make change, where I don’t, really, with my 200 followers.”

Another case considered whether to confront an uncle who makes sexist remarks at the dinner table. Discussing the issue with her Harpeth Hall teammates helped Thalia Vidalakis think through when it might be good to speak up and when “it’s good to just be there for your family and recognize that there’s going to be differences."

A group of teenagers sits at a table with sticker-covered water bottles and the occasional Red Bull. They are allowed only pens and blank paper, no previous notes, but their backpacks litter the room. Their opponents sit at a neighboring table. In between is a moderator. Facing them are three judges pulled from the UNC philosophy department, Ethics Bowl leaders from other states, even the community at large. There is no dress code, so the teens come in whatever they consider nice clothes.

The teams have been discussing a group of cases for weeks, but they don't know which they'll be asked about. Once the question is read, they are given a few minutes to discuss. That’s when one or two of the teammates generally scurry around the table to huddle. Intense whispering and furious scribbling ensue.

It's clearly a contest. There is a winning team and a trophy. But students say it is not competitive in a traditional sense.

“We’re all sad that it has to end. But I agree that it’s not about beating people,” says Lizzie Lyman, whose first-year team from Midtown High School in Atlanta lost in the semifinals of the national championship. “When it becomes about winning and beating the other team, it gets hostile and ... just unsavory. When it’s about constructively answering a question and just having a really interesting, engaging conversation, that’s where you get to have all these amazing conversations.”

Competitiveness isn't only beside the point. It can even be counterproductive in achieving the desired goal. That's how Mae Bradford of the winning team BASIS Flagstaff from Arizona sees it. Her assessment: “Something that’s rare and unique about Ethics Bowl is that those who don’t focus on winning and instead focus on truth and respect and getting to the moral heart of the issue will win."

Part of the point of the Ethics Bowl is to create well-rounded students who ingest other viewpoints and engage without arguing. A 2022 survey of participants in nationals found that 100% believed that their critical thinking skills had improved. A large majority said their ethical or political beliefs had changed.

There is clearly a thirst for a different kind of competition. The National High School Ethics Bowl is only 12 years old, and this year saw 550 teams competing in regional bowls around the country.

Sona Zarkou, also on the BASIS Flagstaff team, sees herself as a case study in Ethics Bowl benefits. When she practiced debate, she says, she was “kind of a jerk" — “very quick to attack and very rude” about opposing views. In Ethics Bowl she sees herself “turn the discussion to something a lot more respectful, a lot more truth-oriented.”

Rhiannon Boyd, a judge at this year's competition as well as a high school teacher and coach and the organizer of the Virginia High School Ethics Bowl, has seen the positive changes as well. Two of her students last year were on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Their disagreement was great. Could they be on the same team together? In the end, both joined and made it all the way to nationals.

Their differing opinions remain. But now, Boyd says, they are “really good friends."

“They can see each other’s strengths because they were sitting side by side at nationals in a huddle trying to build off of each other’s ideas," she says. "They could see that leveraging those differences was actually the thing that made them strong.”

AP National Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.

Student Zelda Lerner, center, makes a point during a semifinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Students from Arizona's BASIS Flagstaff Charter School participate in the semifinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

CORRECTS LUKE CALHOUN'S TITLE TO COACH NOT STUDENT From left, coach Luke Calhoun, and students Olivia Beazer, Sona Zarkou, Mae Bradford, front, Lincoln Bradford, back, Cindy Huang and Juliana Migliati from Arizona's BASIS Flagstaff Charter School pose with the first place trophy after winning the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

CORRECTS ID TO KRUGMAN NOT KRUGER Kate Krugman, facing camera, and other students from Atlanta's Midtown High School confer during a semifinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Three judges listen to questioning during a quarterfinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Spectators watch the finals of the National High School Ethics Bowl in in the student union of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Midtown High School Ethics Bowl teammates Eric Snell, left, and Eve Nahmias speak with coach Eddy Nahmias, Eve's father, in between rounds of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Students from Atlanta's Midtown High School, foreground, confer during a quarterfinal round at the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Students from the Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey confer during a quarterfinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

From right, coach Amy Miller, Larkin Wilson, Sadie Osenga, Thalia Vidalakis, Katherine Thomas and Ashley Maliakal from The Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tenn., take a selfie during a match at the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

In this image taken from video, Kevin Lyman comforts his daughter, Lizzie, after her team from Atlanta's Midtown High School lost in the semifinals of the National High School Ethics Bowl, Sunday, April 23, 2025, in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Midtown High School Ethics Bowl teammates Lizzie Lyman, left, and Sloane Crisler prepare for the quarterfinal round at the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

From left, students Luke Calhoun, Olivia Beazer, Sona Zarkou, Mae Bradford, front, Lincoln Bradford, back, Cindy Huang and Juliana Migliati from Arizona's BASIS Flagstaff Charter School pose with the first place trophy after winning the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Kate Kruger, facing camera, and other students from Atlanta's Midtown High School confer during a semifinal round of the National High School Ethics Bowl in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Friday called on members of the public to send any video or other evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good directly to her office, challenging the Trump administration's decision to leave the investigation solely to the FBI.

Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Wednesday's killing of Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.

She also said that despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the officer who shot Good has complete legal immunity, that isn’t the case.

“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” she said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

The prosecutor's announcement came on a third day of Minneapolis protests over Good's killing and a day after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.

Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.

“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. “That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”

The reaction to the Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.

On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down one of Minneapolis’ major thoroughfares, chanting “ICE out now!” and holding signs saying, “Killer ice off our streets." And on Friday, protesters were out again demonstrating outside of a federal facility that is serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Authorities erected barricades outside the facility Friday.

City workers, meanwhile, removed makeshift barricades made of old Christmas trees and other debris that had been blocking the streets near the scene of Good's shooting. Officials said they would leave up a shrine to the 37-year-old mother of three.

The Portland shootings happened outside a hospital Thursday afternoon. Federal immigration officers shot and wounded a man and woman, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, who were inside a vehicle, and their conditions weren't immediately known. The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice were investigating.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in the city until a full investigation is completed. Hundreds protested Thursday night at a local ICE building. Early Friday, Portland police reported that officers had arrested several protesters after asking the to get out of a street to allow traffic to flow.

Just as it did following Good's shooting, DHS defended the actions of the officers in Portland, saying it occurred after a Venezuelan man with alleged gang ties and who was involved in a recent shooting tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit the officers. It wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were captured on video, as Good's was.

The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as protests happening in other places, including Texas, California, Detroit and Missouri.

In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a woman held a sign that said, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” as hundreds of people marched to the White House. Protesters in Pflugerville, Texas, north of Austin, banged on the walls of an ICE facility. And a man in Los Angeles burned an American flag in front of federal detention center.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying videos show the self-defense argument is “garbage.”

Several bystanders captured footage of Good's killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.

The recordings show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with agents earlier. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.

Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.

Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.

Attempts to reach Ross, 43, at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)