As ethical issues involving computer technologies and social media become more common, there is increasing interest in what role ethics should play in computer science education. As a result, computer science departments worldwide have ramped up their efforts to examine relevant ethical issues in undergraduate computer science classes to prepare emerging professionals to face relevant issues when they enter the computing workforce. As part of these efforts, a public R-1 Hispanic-Serving Institution located on the United States-Mexico border piloted a leadership course based on the Relational Leadership Model (Komives et al., 2013). This model provides a broad idea of leadership that focuses on leaders developing and exercising their ethical awareness by engaging in discussions of ethical issues. The pilot course was organized around the implementation of a cooperative pedagogical tool known as structured academic controversy (Johnson et al., 1996). We describe in detail the strategy for implementing this approach, discuss key elements of students' final reflections about their participation in the academic controversy, and present the quantitative results to examine students' understanding of leadership and satisfaction with the pilot course.