Students across all years of study will take an oath of ethics, responsibility and mentorship
On January 24 and 25, U of T Engineering will host its first-ever Iron Pin ceremony for undergraduate students across all years of study. Facilitated by the Engineering Society (EngSoc), the Iron Pin ceremony is an independent, student-run initiative, which complements the Iron Ring ceremony that fourth-year engineering students across Canada have participated in since the 1920s.
Writer Tyler Irving spoke with EngSoc’s Iron Pin director, Jennifer Xu (Year 3 ChemE) to find out more about this newly emerging tradition.
Can you compare and contrast the new Iron Pin ceremony with the existing Iron Ring ceremony?
The Iron Ring ceremony happens in fourth year, just before you graduate at convocation. It’s run by a national body, the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, and it’s about your commitment to ethics as you enter the workplace.
The Iron Pin ceremony is a student-led initiative, run completely by the Engineering Society, although the faculty has supported us greatly. It’s about your commitment and dedication to student ethics while you are an engineering student in school, rather than in the workplace.
The Iron Ring ceremony has always symbolized the end of a journey and the beginning of something new. We wanted the Iron Pin ceremony to be about the new responsibilities you gain as you finish high school and enter the university environment.
This is the first Iron Pin ceremony at U of T, but not the first in Canada, correct?
Yes, it’s been held before at other engineering schools in our region: for example, York University, Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Waterloo. It’s also been done from coast to coast, from the University of British Columbia to Memorial University of Newfoundland. So far, we’ve been able to find that the longest-running Iron Pin ceremony in Ontario is at the University of Windsor, which started in 2018.
It was our previous EngSoc president, Inho Kim (EngSci 2T5) who really put things into motion here at U of T, and proposed it to Dean Yip, who has been very supportive. We’re grateful for all the work that everyone has done to get us to this point.
What is the actual ceremony going to be like?
Unlike the Iron Ring, there’s nothing secret about it: transparency and mentorship are among our key values. We will have a lot of different speakers coming in to give as many perspectives on student ethics as we can.
We will hear from the Office of the Dean. We’ll also hear from some of our U of T Camp One Iron Ring wardens, though not in their official capacity, just speaking as themselves. We’ll hear from our current EngSoc president, Ken Hilton (Year 4 CompE), and from current students sharing their own experiences.
We’ll also talk about what the pin signifies and the design that we’ve chosen and created. Students will take an oath, which will be uploaded publicly online. And then there’s a ceremonial pinning where everyone in their seats can pin each other or pin themselves.
This year it’s open to students from all years, because we want everyone to have the chance to participate. Starting next year, it will only be for first-year students. Exceptions will be made for those who haven’t yet had the chance to get pinned, such as students who were on PEY Co-op placements or others who missed this year’s ceremony.
When I think of student ethics, I think of all the concerns about how AI tools have made it so easy and tempting for students to cut corners in their assignments. Is that something this ceremony aims to address?
I do think there’s a line in the ceremony about that, but the oath itself is meant to be more inspirational. It’s not a set of commandments, like “I will not do this or that.” Instead, it’s about inspiring each other to not only be good students, but to get involved in the school community.
We want people to join clubs and teams, and to create a community of upper year students who will mentor students in first year. We want students, right from their first year, to think about what being an engineer means, the responsibilities they will take on, and the role they will play in the wider world, rather than narrowly focusing only on aspects like class work. In essence, we want to help them foster a sense of personal identity while in engineering at U of T.
Tell me about the design of the pin.
Every university has their own design. They’re all very creative and look vastly different.
Ours was the result of a competition we held last semester; Ellie Jiang (Year 2 CivE) won the competition and Milena Gega (Year 3 ChemE) completed the design. It’s built around the motif of the mythological figure Atlas holding up the sky, which again connects to that theme of responsibility.
How are you feeling about this first ceremony?
It’s definitely really exciting! I’ve seen the excitement grow from where no one really knew what this was to now, where we have around 1,700 people signed up. There’s a lot we’ve had to navigate over the past few months, but we’re trying to make sure we’re going through the right avenues so that we can run this correctly and ethically. I think it’s going to be great!
By Tyler Irving
This article originally published by Engineering News