C-399: Academy Protocol v0.1 — OAA Floor 3 specification

EPICON_C-399_ACADEMY_PROTOCOL_v1¶

• Layer: SUBSTRATE → governance → oaa-academy
• Author: Michael Judan (+ ATLAS handoff)
• Date: 2026-08-09
• Status: draft (awaiting ZEUS review + human merge)

Summary¶

Formalize OAA Floor 3 (Academy) as a constitutional specification with three protocol documents and one reference lesson exemplar. This is specification-only: no runtime, no new service, no learner records beyond the reference exemplar test.

Authority Provenance & Standing¶

Authority declared using docs/templates/EPICON_FOUNDER_STANDING.md v0.1

This EPICON invokes founder–custodian standing only to publish Academy specification documentation under OAA Floor 3. No production KV mutation, ledger repair, seal canon promotion, or runtime deployment authority is exercised.

Scope Constraints¶

This authority is narrowly scoped to:

• publishing Academy protocol specifications (docs/academy/)
• filing EPICON C-399 intent and witness artifacts
• establishing pre-runtime pedagogical boundary conditions

It does not authorize production system changes, learner record creation, Academy service deployment, or bypass of OAA Phase D gates.

Temporality & Revocation¶

This authority is transitional, contestable, and non-transferable. It may be superseded by ratified governance or a successor EPICON.

Sunset Condition¶

This C-399 authority expires for this specification when either:

1. the Academy Protocol v0.1 package is merged and canonized, or
2. a successor EPICON supersedes C-399.

Intent publication¶

epicon_id: EPICON_C-399_DOCS_academy-protocol-v1_v1
ledger_id: kaizencycle
scope: docs
mode: normal
issued_at: 2026-08-09T16:00:00Z
expires_at: 2026-11-07T16:00:00Z
justification:
  VALUES INVOKED: integrity, transparency, comprehension-not-compliance, witness-fidelity
  REASONING: OAA Charter already names Academy as Floor 3. This PR operationalizes teaching cycles, assessment without ideological capture, learner challenge windows, and fail-closed quarantine behavior before any runtime build.
  ANCHORS:
    - docs/OAA_CHARTER.md
    - docs/academy/ACADEMY_PROTOCOL.md
    - docs/academy/ASSESSMENT_PROTOCOL.md
    - docs/academy/AGENT_TEACHER_CONTRACT.md
    - docs/academy/OAA-HIST-001-exemplar.md
  BOUNDARIES: Specification and reference exemplar only. No Academy service, Browser Shell integration, or learner account systems. Runtime gated on OAA Phase D (Authority + Hub complete).
  COUNTERFACTUAL: If ZEUS finds ideological capture paths in rubric or questionnaire design, do not merge until amended. If OAA-HIST-001 evidence links fail verification, quarantine exemplar before merge.
counterfactuals:
  - If assessment gates can be satisfied only by ideological agreement, revise ASSESSMENT_PROTOCOL before merge
  - If exemplar contradicts verified C-397 witness evidence, correct OAA-HIST-001 before merge
  - If Phase D gates are false, merge spec only — no runtime queue items

INTENT (I1–I6)¶

I1: Outcome Sought¶

Formalize OAA Floor 3 (Academy) as a constitutional specification with:

1. ACADEMY_PROTOCOL.md — Valid Academy instance structure and fail-closed behavior
2. ASSESSMENT_PROTOCOL.md — Five-gate comprehension rubric with disagree-and-pass rule
3. AGENT_TEACHER_CONTRACT.md — Ten binding pedagogical obligations
4. OAA-HIST-001-exemplar.md — Reference lesson tested against all three protocols

I2: Authority¶

• OAA Charter (docs/OAA_CHARTER.md) names Academy as Floor 3
• Witness Protocol (C-373) requires intent before consequential action
• This specification enables future Academy runtime but does not run anything

I3: Constraint¶

• Phase D Gating: Academy build items do not enter cycles until Authority and Hub floors are complete
• Specification-only: No runtime, no new service, no lesson instances beyond reference exemplar
• Comprehension rule: "Understanding is attestable. Agreement is not."
• Every assessment question must trace to auditable evidence

I4: Evidence Required¶

• OAA Charter Floor 3 definition
• Reference lesson tested against proposed protocol
• Grading rubric verified to distinguish comprehension from ideological agreement
• Constitutional alignment with EPICON, Witness Protocol, and Goodhart Resistance doctrine

I5: Fail-Closed Behavior¶

• Protocol violations trigger QUARANTINED lessons and STALE attestations
• Ideological grading triggers automatic agent removal pending human approval
• Learner challenges invoke ZEUS review and human merge gate

I6: Rollback¶

• Specification is documentation only — rollback is document retraction, no data loss
• Reference exemplar is non-runtime — no learner records to unwind
• Future runtime changes require new PR with separate intent block

CLAIMS (Witness Protocol)¶

RISK & MITIGATION¶

DELIVERABLES¶

"We heal as we walk." — Mobius Systems