About the CS CARES Committee

Committee Mission Statement 
The Illinois CARES Committee was established to enable a climate in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science that adheres to the school's Values and Code of Conduct. CARES provides a confidential resource to the SSCDS community, independent of the school administration, to (1) provide a friendly sounding board for concerns relating to the interpretation and violation of the SSCDS Values and Code of Conduct, (2) provide consultation for mechanisms to address such concerns, and (3) advocate and mediate on behalf of community members with such concerns, where appropriate. 
 
Committee Purpose  
Although CS CARES is a committee of the School of Computing and Data Science at Illinois, it operates independently of the school administration, like the current Advisory Committee. The autonomous operation is to increase the trust of all community members and affirm that CS CARES commits to offer support to all members of the community, who report concerns. CS CARES governance seeks to strike a balance in acknowledging the need for such autonomy, while also the need for support and stewardship by the school. 

Committee Structure 
The CS CARES committee consists of a chair, a past chair, and several committee members. The CS CARES Committee strives to represent the diversity of the CS community, including, but not restricted to, gender, ethnicity, and race.  

Committee Member Appointments 
The members of the CS CARES Committee are chosen largely for their commitment and record on the issues covered by the Code. Because of the gravity and personal nature of the issues that may appear before this committee, ensuring committee members are empathetic, trustworthy, and discreet, is of the utmost importance. 

Committee Responsibilities 

• Availability: CARES holds at least one in-person or zoom “walk-in” office hour each weekday and provides an email account and phone number that is monitored frequently.  

• Events: CARES aims to provide representatives to attend most large CS department events so that any concerns that may arise during such events can be brought to immediate attention. CARES representatives announce their presence at these events. 

• Support: CARES supports community members in addressing concerns about violations of the Code in ways described in the “Purpose” section of this document, while respecting the ethics, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest rules described in the next section. 

• Outreach: CARES conducts outreach to make the CS community aware of the Code and the role of CARES in enabling the community to uphold the Code. 

Committee members are expected to contribute equally to achieve the above goals.  

Committee Ethics, Confidentiality, and Conflicts of Interest 
Committee members are held to the highest standards of conduct and discretion. They must abide by all pertinent rules of the University of Illinois and of Title IX.   

All concerns brought to CARES members are treated with utmost confidentiality outside of CARES, unless permitted by the person raising the concern. By default, all concerns are conveyed to the CARES chair and the vice-chair, who use their discretion and determination of conflicts of interest (see below) to determine a subset of the committee with whom to share the concern. The community member raising the concern may explicitly request that it not be shared with certain members of the CARES committee.