Stanford Practical Ethics Club and Ethics Bowl

 

Students from SPEC attend an event on Media Ethics
Students from SPEC attend an event on Media Ethics.

The Stanford Practical Ethics Club (SPEC) was founded in 2017 to promote in-depth discussion of real-world ethical issues, to help students engage with ethical theory and ethical practice, and to facilitate participation in intercollegiate ethics events.  The ethical concerns SPEC considers—from the right to data privacy to the moral value of art—are inherently interdisciplinary, and this is reflected in the variety of majors represented by the club's members, including Philosophy, English, International Relations, Economics, Public Policy, STS (Science, Technology, and Society), and Earth Systems. SPEC welcomes anyone and everyone to join, whether for a single conversation or for a full four years.

You can typically find SPEC students passionately engaged in discussion and debate in the dining halls of FloMo during their weekly gatherings over dinner (and, more recently, over their online Discord channel to keep connected during these challenging times).

Ethics Bowl

Congratulations to our 2024-25 Ethics Bowl Team for placing 1st in the California Regional Competition!

The Stanford Ethics Bowl team and coaches smiling proudly with their championship trophy.
Photo (from left to right), Top Row: Collin Anthony Chen (coach), JD Pruett (coach), Ally Yun, Georgios Mikos, Mirabai Herz; Middle Row: Natalie Feldman, Ursula Neuner, Charlotte Yan, Emma Muller, Jorge Ramos; Bottom Row: Aarush Santoshi, Stuti Desai, Lauren Young Kim

Each year, SPEC sends a team to the annual undergraduate Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. Ethics Bowl is an intercollegiate 'debate' tournament where teams of 5 undergraduates from schools across the country present arguments about challenging ethical dilemmas to one another. This year's team members are:

  • Ally Yun
  • Mirabai Herz
  • Georgios Mikos
  • Charlotte Yan
  • Natalie Feldman
  • Ursula Neuner

And a second team, including:

  • Emma Katherine Muller
  • Jorge Ramos
  • Ariana Duduna
  • Lauren Young Kim
  • Stuti Desai
  • Aarush Santoshi

Those interested in learning more are warmly invited to email canthony [at] stanford.edu (Collin Anthony Chen), and subscribe to SPEC's practicalethicsclub [at] lists.stanford.edu (subject: Subscribe%20me%20to%20SPEC%20mailing%20list) (mailing list). For more information about the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, visit their website.