A team of students from the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business competed in the Eller Ethics Case Competition against 25 public and private universities. The competition was hosted by The University of Arizona on Oct. 12-14.
Caleb Langdon (’23) of Coats, NC and Laura Care (’23) of Henderson, NC were awarded runner-up in their bracket. The team competed in an eight-question Q&A round on Thursday, followed by a 20-minute presentation on Friday. Semifinalists were then chosen from each of the five brackets to compete with shorter ten-minute presentations for the top spot.
“Caleb and Laura had an incredible presentation and did an outstanding job making their case,” said Dr. Mark A. Steckbeck, who mentored the team and accompanied them to the competition. “They had to learn about cryptocurrencies and blockchains,” he said, “and given this was our first time competing in this event, winning runner up for the bracket showed that Caleb and Laura presented a strong ethical argument for this complex, yet interesting case.”
The case involved a fictitious university and asked students, who were hired as financial consultants by senior leadership of the university, to advise whether it should invest part of its endowment in cryptocurrencies. They had to consider the effect on stakeholders, as well as the ethical, legal, and economic considerations for investing in cryptocurrencies.
The Campbell team’s position focused primarily on the extreme risk of holding cryptocurrencies, as seen by the 56% decrease in the value of Bitcoin since last October. They argued that though cryptocurrencies will likely play a fundamental and important role in both transacting and wealth holdings in the future, it was just too early in the life of this relatively new medium of exchange for a university with fiduciary responsibilities to its stakeholders to take on such risks.
Some of the schools competing in this event included The U.S. Naval Academy, Penn State University, the University of Iowa, Concordia University, and the overall winner, Washington University in St. Louis.
“I loved having the opportunity to compete in the ethics case in Arizona,” said Laura Care, a Trust and Wealth Management major. “I am so grateful for the business school and all the opportunities they have provided in competing in events like this. Over the past four years, I have continuously grown, largely because of my participation in competitions like this.”
“Competing in Arizona afforded me an opportunity to grow as a student and as a person,” said Caleb Langdon, an Economics major. “I believe that collaborative efforts such as this are some of the most educational experiences college has to offer. I can’t thank Campbell enough for allowing me and Laura to represent the school in this ethics case. Each of the cases in which we’ve competed make you realize just how much thought must go into every decision a business makes and have given me a framework for making ethical business decisions that I hope to incorporate throughout my career.”
The team’s performance adds another banner to the LFSB Hall of Competition Fame.