Pictured Above: (Left to right) John Kostamo, Julia Linkogle, Jonathon Hatzistefanou, Tijen Jones and Marcus Rubenstein hold trophies won during a debate tournament in Lakeland.
Courtesy of Tijen Jones
By Annalise Anderson
When asked to describe her favorite experience with USF St. Petersburg’s Ethics and Debate Club, club President Tijen Jones struggled to choose just one.
“I cannot express how much I love this club,” Jones said. “It provides a great backbone for the university, I believe, just to have people with different views talking about anything from political topics to philosophical topics, and anything and everything in between.”
The Ethics and Debate Club serves as a space for students to address controversial topics in a conversational way among peers of varying viewpoints.
The club is made up of three branches: general, competitive and ethics. Each branch hosts diverse conversations and offers different forms of student participation. Members are free to decide how they participate in the branches.
The club’s general branch includes its weekly Monday meetings from 5 to 7 p.m. Members participate in a casual discussion about controversial topics. Students are given the opportunity to choose discussion topics for each meeting.
Students interested in the club are encouraged to contribute or just listen and appreciate the conversation during Monday meetings. It serves as the ideal place for those who enjoy conversation but want to pass on public speaking.
Upcoming meetings will feature the club’s “Spooky Series” with topics like cults and communes and the ethics of instilling fear.
“I really enjoy the general meetings that we have on Mondays,” club Secretary Kristian Sawyer said. “We have many people of different views who come in and share their opinions. We find out where they get their opinions from and we talk about it. That’s my favorite part about the club.”
Sawyer, a junior psychology major, has been a part of the club for one year. As the club’s secretary, he manages its social media and marketing. He called his time with the club “a wonderful experience.”
The competitive branch is where members hone their debate skills for annual competitions. Members are not required to join the club’s competitive teams; however, Jones encourages those who enjoy public speaking and have a passionate interest to give it a shot.
“If you’re interested in any sort of topic, you’re able to give a persuasive speech about it,” Jones said. “Being able to compete with people and having them be a part of your team, especially whenever it has to do with academics, drives people so much closer than you could ever imagine.”
Jones is a second year interdisciplinary social sciences major with a concentration in political science and history. She eagerly joined the Ethics and Debate Club as a freshman and assumed her role as club president in February of this year.
The ethics branch encompasses the club’s preparations for competitive debate on ethical cases. Both of the club’s biggest competitions require its competitive teams to have a healthy understanding of ethics.
Every year, the club’s competitive team participates in The National Ethics Bowl in Jacksonville, where teams deliberate 12 different ethical cases. The club also competes in the International Business Ethics Case Competition in Boston.
IBECC requires teams to identify an ethical issue in a business or corporation and devise a plan to solve it. The club’s previous IBECC topics include Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen chemicals destroying coral reefs and patient neglect in Brookdale Senior Living facilities.
Due to COVID-19 guidelines, club meetings and competitions are now being held virtually.
Before the pandemic, the club’s competitive team would travel for competitions. Now, they are reminiscent of the hours-long car rides that brought them closer together.
Julia Linkogle, club Vice President and third year mechanical engineering major at the Tampa campus, said the team’s early-morning ventures across the state “are so much fun.”
“I love getting up before the sun and taking a mini road trip with everyone as it comes up,” Linkogle said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “We listen to music, get breakfast and sometimes dinner together and have a good time.”
Jones emphasizes that there is something for everyone in the Ethics and Debate Club.
“…If you are passionate about literally anything at all, we can accommodate you and we want to have you here,” Jones said. “It’s such a welcoming environment and we are trying to make it more welcoming every day for every person. No matter what your spot in life is, we will reach out to you.”
The Ethics and Debate Club hopes to host more on-campus events in the future and looks forward to collaborating with other St. Petersburg campus clubs.
Students from all three USF campuses are welcome to participate. If you’re interested in joining, look for the club on social media or contact club President Tijen Jones at tijen@usf.edu.
