Our goal when creating our Code of Ethics was to take the ACM Code of Ethics and apply it specifically toward Notre Dame Computer Science and Engineering students. Our code focused around the fact that some of the aspects of the code of ethics may apply more to Notre Dame students as opposed to others. When going into the professional world we will have a responsibility to uphold the reputation of the University of Notre Dame. There are certain moral and ethical responsibilities that we have to keep as representatives of the university.
The section of our code of ethics that I worked on dealt with something that I think is key to the ethical and moral responsibilities of a Notre Dame student, the social responsibilities we take on as leaders in an organization. This is something that we may not be thinking about now, but many of us will have to deal with in the future. If we are given power in an organization and do not act ethically, we are not only representing ourselves poorly. We are representing the University of Notre Dame poorly.
Whenever given leadership, we are ethically responsible for all of the social consequences of those under us. When beginning projects, and taking into account aspects such as budget and resources, we must also take into account the social impact of the project. Will our project have any unintended consequences on innocent bystanders? Often we can get too caught up on the success of the project and not realize we are having unintended consequences on bystanders. We are responsible for these bystanders just as much as our paying clients. A Notre Dame student should never forget this.
I think the main weakness of our Code of Ethics is that it loses its strength as the Notre Dame student moves farther and farther away from college. A key point of our document is that when a student acts unethically, they are harming the reputation of the university just as much as themselves. However, as a student moves farther away from their time at the University of Notre Dame they may begin to get detached from it. They may not care about reputation of the university anymore. I think a good way to address this is to remind the alumni that their reputation is directly tied to their school’s reputation. If they are in the professional world tarnishing the reputation of their school, they’re tarnishing the reputation of their degree. Thus all alumni should attempt to keep the high reputation our university has.
I certainly think a Code of Ethics is useful if used correctly. I do not believe it should be used in the same way as a “Ten Commandments” type of document is, meaning I don’t believe that it needs to be something that is referenced every single day in your life before every action you take. I think it should be something that you look over every couple of months, to make sure that your actions have been up to code. You should be taking refreshers to make sure that you are not forgetting any key ideas.
This exercise was certainly useful to me. When first reading the ACM Code of Ethics, I felt somewhat detached from the document. I felt that it really had nothing to do with me personally and thus I had no use for it. This exercise forced us to look at the document through a perspective that does matter to me, the perspective of a Notre Dame student. I was able to see how the Code of Ethics has a use for me as a Notre Dame student moving into the real world.