The Honor Concept and Honor Treatise are parts of the United States Naval Academy's

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

 Honor Program. Similar to the Cadet Honor Codes

Cadet Honor Code

Both the United States Military Academy and the United States Air Force Academy have adopted a Cadet Honor Code as a formalized statement of the minimum standard of ethics expected of cadets. Other military schools have similar codes with their own methods of administration...

 of the United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

 and United States Air Force Academy

United States Air Force Academy

The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

, the Concept formalizes the requirement for midshipmen to demonstrate integrity while refusing to lie, cheat or steal.

The Treatise adopts the use of first-person point of view, becoming a personal call to obey the letter and spirit of the Concept amongst midshipmen of the brigade. The United States Coast Guard Academy

United States Coast Guard Academy

Founded in 1876, the United States Coast Guard Academy is the military academy of the United States Coast Guard. Located in New London, Connecticut, it is the smallest of the five federal service academies...

 utilizes a similar Honor Concept to impart the same call to integrity for its corps of cadets.

Unlike the other service academies' honor codes, the Honor Concept allows a midshipman to confront someone committing an honor violation without formally reporting it. At the other academies, failure to formally report an honor violation is construed as tolerating it, which is itself a violation of the code.

Penalties for violating the Honor Concept can be severe, up to and including expulsion from the Academy.

Honor Concept

History

Examination of the past academy honor practices by 1953 USNA class president Ross Perot

Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...

 discovered "no uniform policy for dealing with midshipmen who had violated their class's conception of honor." While admitting to irreverence as an "inescapable trait of midshipmen," brigade leaders like Perot, William P. Lawrence

William P. Lawrence

William Porter Lawrence , United States Navy, was a decorated Naval Aviator who served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy from 1978-1981...

 and James Sagerholm worked with Brigade Captain Charles Dobony and academy superintendent Harry W. Hill

Harry W. Hill

Harry Wilbur Hill was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II.-Biography:Hill was born in Oakland, California on 7 April 1890...

to create the Honor Concept.