Sexual Assault At Coast Guard Academy, The Webster Smith Case Chap 2
CHAPTER 2
The Honor Concept
Unlike the other service
academies, admission to USCGA is based solely upon merit and does not
require a congressional nomination. Students are officers-in-training and are
referred to as cadets. Tuition for cadets is fully funded by the Coast Guard in
exchange for an obligation of 5 years active duty service upon graduation. This
obligation increases if the cadet chooses to go to flight school or grad
school. Approximately 400 cadets enter the academy each summer with about 200
cadets graduating. Graduates are commissioned as ensigns. The academic
program grants a Bachelor of Science degree in one of eight majors, with a
curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a holistic education of
academics, physical fitness, character and leadership. Cadets are required to
adhere to the academy's Honor Concept, "Who lives here
reveres honor, honors duty," which is emblazoned in the halls of the
academy's entrance.
The Coast Guard Academy Cadet Handbook (2010) tells
the new cadet recruit that when you take the oath of office as a
Cadet in the United States Coast Guard you begin your development as
a commissioned officer in the Armed Forces of the United States. You will
be expected to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and to
selflessly serve the American people.
America will place special trust and confidence in
your integrity, ability and good character. This special trust and confidence must be
earned. Make no mistake, the Academy leadership program is designed to
challenge you. Swab Summer will test your self-discipline, your physical
stamina, your commitment to service, and your capacity for teamwork.
Above all, your success will depend on your daily commitment to the Coast
Guard’s Core Values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty.
The first seven weeks at the Coast Guard Academy
are referred to as the Swab Summer Training Program. They are a
period for training in military fundamentals and physical
conditioning. They will prepare the
"swabs" to join the Corps of Cadets at the start of the
fall semester.
In the Honor Concept there exists a higher standard of conduct that can
neither be delineated by laws nor defined by regulations. It is the
concept of Honor. Because Coast Guard cadets are called to a life of public
service, and desire to attain that special trust and confidence which is
placed in our nation’s commissioned officers, their actions must be
straightforward and always above reproach. As future law enforcement
officers, each cadet’s word and signature must be regarded as verification of
the truth. The Coast Guard Academy’s Honor Concept is exemplified by a person
who will neither lie, cheat, steal, nor attempt to deceive. It is
epitomized by an individual who places loyalty to duty above loyalty to
personal friendship or to selfish desire. While the Coast Guard Academy’s Honor
Concept differs from a code, in that failure to report an honor offense
is not itself an honor violation, cadets are required to report
all activity that does not incriminate themselves. Moreover, the
condoning of an honor violation is a Class I offense under the Cadet
Regulations. Disenrollment is a very possible outcome. The Corps of
Cadets are stewards of their Honor Concept. The following words
are emblazoned in the tiling of Chase Hall’s Quarterdeck, the cadet
barracks’ lobby: Who Lives Here, Reveres Honor, Honors Duty (The Coast Guard Academy Cadet Handbook (2010), p.13)
Military academies and universities across
America send millions of young graduates
into life each year with their heads stuffed with new ideas, technology,
processes, perspectives, and maybe even a little practical experience they can
use in their first assignment as newly commissioned officers. Only in a
few schools has the person been so fundamentally transformed from the raw
material received four years earlier as at a military academy such as the
Coast Guard Academy. How does this happen?
When the future cadets arrive for Swab Summer,
the vast majority are typical high school graduates. Most of them believe the
sun rises and sets on them. By the end of the first week of Swab Summer,
they understand this is not the liberal arts college where students wear
uniforms they have expected. By the end of Swab Summer they are starting
to learn that any value they have in this world is to be earned by their
adherence to certain rules of behavior that bind them to each other as Coast
Guard cadets and future officers.
At the center of their new world is adherence
to a Cadet Honor Code to which they swear: “A cadet will not
lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do.” Their whole new world is
shaped around these principles. This initially shapeless reality begins to form
into principles of rigid honesty, loyalty to their fellow cadets, and respect
for their classmates and all with whom they associate.
Sometime between
the end of their first year (Swab Year) and their Second Class Year when they
will be expected to indoctrinate the new swabs, the majority start to
understand the role of self discipline in riding the emotional waves of
adolescence to a more settled understanding that the emotions are as changeable
as the sea and not a reliable basis to govern personal behavior. Cadets learn
to lead by first learning to follow. Basic Corps Values of honesty and
loyalty become their template for acceptability. They develop a new understanding
of the guiding role of honesty, truthfulness, and fairness in their world.
Until this becomes second nature, a cadet is not prepared to lead, or to defend
and to protect the Constitution of the United States of America.
George Washington, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln
have all noted in one form or another that, “Our Constitution was made for a
moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.” Until we accept that as a nation, we are destined to continue to flail about
rudderless in a tempestuous sea. (Business Ethics Articles From The Honor Code,
2008 by Robert E. Freer, Jr., President, The Free Enterprise Foundation, and
Visiting Professor, at The Citadel).
What is
conduct unbecoming an officer and a lady? Does it violate the Honor Concept?
Does conduct that violates the UCMJ constitute a higher standard than the Honor
Concept? Times are changing so rapidly, one wonders if cadets and officers of
today can be held to the same standards of conduct that were intended by the
drafters of the UCMJ and the MCM promulgated in 1951? Not everyone can be
expected to meet ideal moral standards, but how far can the standards of
behavior of cadets and officers fall below contemporary community standards
without seriously compromising their standing as officers and ladies? Have the
changes in ethics and values of American society been reflected in the
military?
Men and women
behave differently today than they did sixty years ago. They relate differently
to each other today than they did sixty years ago. Dishonorable conduct is
magnified when it involves interpersonal relationships. Conduct that disgraces an individual
personally and compromises her character may render that person unfit to be an
officer. Making false statements, appearing intoxicated in public, failing to
pay debts, reading another person’s mail, using insulting or defamatory
language, spreading rumors or gossip about another person, and associating with
people known to engage in sexually immoral behavior do not carry the same
stigma as they did sixty years ago. Homosexual conduct does not carry the
stigma that it did sixty years ago. All of these types of behavior would have
constituted behavior punishable by court-martial sixty years ago.
What type of
conduct today would violate Article 133 of the UCMJ? Is consensual sodomy a
violation of Article 133? Would violation of a cadet regulation be an offense
under Article 133? Would engaging in consensual sex with an enlisted member of
another branch of the armed forces while on temporary duty be a violation of
Article 133 for which a cadet could be punished?
Could breach
of a custom of the service result in a violation of Article 133? Many Coast
Guard cadet customs have been adopted into the cadet regulations. “Sexual misconduct”
at the USCGA is defined as “acts that disgrace or bring discredit on the Coast
Guard or Coast Guard Academy and are sexual in nature”, including lewd or lascivious acts, indecent
exposure or homosexual conduct.
But the
definition also includes consensual acts that are prohibited in Chase Hall and
on the Academy grounds, such as holding hands, kissing in public or having sex.
There are
certain moral attributes common to the ideal cadet, officer, lady and
gentleman. If a person commits acts of lewdness, dishonesty, indecency,
lawlessness, indecorum, or violation of a cadet regulation that would seriously
compromise her standing as a cadet or officer. Such conduct would at the very
least be to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces.
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. The United
States Naval Academy, like the Coast Guard Academy, has a related standard, known as the Honor Concept.
West
Point's Cadet Honor Code reads simply that
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who
do."
Cadets
accused of violating the Honor Code face a standardized investigative and
hearing process. If they are found guilty by a jury of their peers, they face
severe consequences, up to and including expulsion from the Academy.
Definitions of the tenets of the Honor Code
LYING:
Cadets violate the Honor Code by lying if they deliberately deceive another by
stating an untruth or by any direct form of communication to include the
telling of a partial truth and the vague or ambiguous use of information or
language with the intent to deceive or mislead.
CHEATING: A
violation of cheating would occur if a Cadet fraudulently acted out of
self-interest or assisted another to do so with the intent to gain or to give
an unfair advantage. Cheating includes such acts as plagiarism (presenting
someone else's ideas, words, data, or work as one's own without documentation),
misrepresentation (failing to document the assistance of another in the
preparation, revision, or proofreading of an assignment), and using
unauthorized notes.
STEALING:
The wrongful taking, obtaining, or withholding by any means from the possession
of the owner or any other person any money, personal property, article, or
service of value of any kind, with intent to permanently deprive or defraud
another person of the use and benefit of the property, or to appropriate it to
either their own use or the use of any person other than the owner.
TOLERATION:
Cadets violate the Honor Code by tolerating if they fail to report an
unresolved incident with honor implications to proper authority within a
reasonable length of time. "Proper authority” includes the Commandant, the
Assistant Commandant, the Director of Military Training, the Athletic Director,
a tactical officer, teacher or coach. A "reasonable length of time"
is the time it takes to confront the Cadet candidate suspected of the honor
violation and decide whether the incident was a misunderstanding or a possible
violation of the Honor Code. A reasonable length of time is usually considered
not to exceed 24 hours.
To have
violated the honor code, a Cadet must have lied, cheated, stolen, or attempted
to do so, or tolerated such action on the part of another Cadet. The procedural
element of the Honor System examines the two elements that must be present for
a Cadet to have committed an honor violation: the act and the intent to commit
that act. The latter does not mean Intent to violate the Honor Code, but rather
the Intent to commit the act itself.
Three rules of thumb
1. Does
this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived?
2. Does
this action gain or allow gain of a privilege or advantage to which I or
someone else would not otherwise be entitled?
3. Would I
be unsatisfied by the outcome if I were on the receiving end of this action?
U.S. Air Force Academy
The Cadet
Honor Code at the Air Force Academy, like that at West Point, is the
cornerstone of a cadet's professional training and development — the minimum
standard of ethical conduct that cadets expect of themselves and their fellow
cadets. Air Force's honor code was developed and adopted by the Class of 1959,
the first class to graduate from the Academy, and has been handed down to every
subsequent class. The code
adopted was based largely on West Point's Honor Code, but was modified slightly
to its current wording:
We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.
In 1984,
the Cadet Wing voted to add an "Honor Oath," which was to be taken by
all cadets. The oath is administered to fourth class cadets (freshmen) when
they are formally accepted into the Wing at the conclusion of Basic Cadet
Training. The oath remains
unchanged since its adoption in 1984, and consists of a statement of the code,
followed by a resolution to live honorably:
We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.
Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me
God.
Cadets are
considered the "guardians and stewards" of the Code. Cadet honor
representatives throughout the Wing oversee the honor system by conducting
education classes and investigating possible honor incidents. Cadets throughout
the Wing are expected to sit on Honor Boards as juries that determine whether their fellow
cadets violated the code. Cadets also recommend sanctions for violations.
Although the presumed sanction for a violation is disenrollment, mitigating
factors may result in the violator being placed in a probationary status for
some period of time. This "honor probation" is usually only reserved
for cadets in their first two years at the Academy. (Cadet Honor Code, from
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Why have an
honor code?
a. In professions
such as the military where life is endangered by virtue of the institution's
purpose, trust becomes sacred and integrity becomes a requisite quality for
each professional. An officer who is not trustworthy cannot be tolerated; in
some professions the cost of dishonesty is measured in dollars – in the Army,
the cost is measured in human lives. The ability of West Point to educate,
train and inspire outstanding leaders of character for our Army is predicated
upon the functional necessity of honesty. In short, USMA expects its graduates
and cadets to commit to a lifetime of honorable living.
b. In order to
foster a genuine commitment to honorable living, USMA maintains Honor as a
fundamental value. This value is operationalized through the Cadet Honor Code,
the Honor Investigative and Hearing System, and the Honor Education System.
Although the Honor Code & System "belongs" to West Point graduates,
staff and faculty members, and cadets, the special charter of maintaining the
Honor Code & System resides with the Corps of Cadets. Since 1922, the
elected members of the Cadet Honor Committee have represented the Corps on all
matters pertaining to honor and are the stewards of the Code. (Information
Paper on "Honor" – A Bedrock of Military Leadership, USMA at West
Point, MACC-S- HON, 8
May 1998. )
Spirit of the Code
a. The Cadet
Honor Code describes the minimum standard of ethical behavior that all cadets
have contracted to live by, not an abstract ideal to strive toward. Easy to
understand and meet, it is the expected baseline behavior of cadets, not some
ultimate state of purity that is hard to attain.
b. If the Code is the minimum standard
for members of the Corps, what is the ideal that cadets should strive for?
c. That ideal is the "Spirit of
the Code," an affirmation of the way of life that marks true leaders of
character. The spirit of the code goes beyond the mere external adherence to
rules. Rather, it is an expression of integrity and virtue springing from deep
within and manifested in the actions of the honorable man or woman. Persons who
accept the spirit of the code think of the Honor Code as a set of broad and
fundamental principles, not as a list of prohibitions. In deciding to take any
action, they ask if it is the right thing to do.
d. It is the Spirit of the Code that
gives rise to the specific tenets of the Honor Code itself:
The spirit of
the code embraces truthfulness in all its aspects. The Honor Code prohibits
lying.
The spirit of
the code calls for complete fairness in human relations. The Honor Code
prohibits cheating.
The spirit of
the code requires respect for the person and property of others. The Honor Code
prohibits stealing.
The spirit of
the code demands a personal commitment to upholding the ethical standards which
gird the profession of arms. The Honor Code prohibits toleration of violations.
e. This, then, is the essence of the
spirit of the code as it applies to cadets - a cadet is truthful, fair,
respectful of others' property, and committed to maintaining ethical standards
in the Corps. This spirit shapes not only West Point but sets the ethical
standards for leadership in the Army itself.
f. The growth of each cadet as a
leader of character is marked by strict adherence to the minimum standards of
the code, combined with a driving desire to progress beyond the external
standards to an internalization of the spirit of the code. That is expected by
the Corps, by the Long Gray Line, and by the nation.
How does the Honor Code
operate? (At the U. S. Air Force Academy)
The administration of the Honor Code is accomplished by a joint effort
between cadets and Academy officers. Each possible Honor Code violation is
thoroughly investigated on the premise that the accused cadet is honorable
until a sufficient amount of reasonable evidence shows otherwise. The primary
sanction for code violations is dismissal from the Academy. Some cadets,
however, are retained on probationary status. The main concern in the
administration of the code is that fairness and equity be maintained while
teaching the importance of personal responsibility and that the rights of the
cadets are fully protected during this process. Cadets are taught the specifics
of the administration of the Honor Code during Basic Cadet Training and
throughout their Academy experience.
Cadets who live under the Honor Code agree it is a
vital part of their development as military professionals. It also represents a
broader aspect of ethical maturity which will serve them throughout their
lives. As the bearers of the public trust, both as cadets and as officers, it
is the Honor Code which helps build a personal integrity able to withstand the
rigorous demands placed upon them. (The Honor Code, printable fact sheet,
USAFA).
Labels: Cadet Webster Smith.
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