The Ethics Bowl was first created 15 years ago out of the Illinois Institute of Technology as a way to teach ethical reasoning through studying and evaluating actual ethical situations. Each team in the Ethics Bowl introduces a case in a 10-minute presentation, handles a five-minute rebuttal from another team, responds to the rebuttal in five minutes, and then finally responds to questions from a panel of three judges. The judges are often professors, lawyers, and CEOs. They score the team on how well it handles the ethical issues presented in the case.

An recent article in the Chicago Tribune about Northeastern's success in the Ethics Bowl praised the NEIU team for their ethical understanding despite state politics in Illinois.

"Illinois certainly hasn't been a model of ethical behavior lately. But a Chicago university has managed to overcome the city and state reputation for political corruption, becoming one of the top-ranked college ethics teams in the U.S.," wrote reporter Jodi Cohen.

Northeastern's team proved to be worthy competitors despite facing ridicule throughout the tournament. The eight Northeastern students became known as the "Pay to Play" team.

"It was a running joke that we were Chicagoans and we were trying to do careful and good ethical analysis, something we have seen lacking here," said coach Dan Milsky, assistant professor, philosophy.

Northeastern's Ethics Team has competed in the Ethics Bowl for the past four years.  This was their first trip to the nationals.

The students who were on this year's Ethics Bowl Team were: Charise Barlow, biology and philosophy; Kristin Henry, philosophy; Brian Kruchten, philosophy; Jessica LaPiana, English secondary education and philosophy; and Philip Mayo, philosophy. The students were coached by John Casey, assistant professor, philosophy, and Milsky.