Academic regalia

2015-01-20T12:38:53Z

Kadie: /* Colors and standardization */

{{wp-also2|Academic regalia}}
[[Image:regalia1948.jpg|thumb|[[Jacques Barzun]], doctoral robe, 1948]]
'''Academic regalia''', colloquially known as the "'''Cap and Gown'''" or "'''Graduation robes'''", is the formal attire worn by degree candidates and holders during various ceremonial occasions.

Columbia's caps and gowns were once all black. [[Jacques Barzun]], while [[Provost]] of the University, is credited with changing the attire to a slate grey emblazoned with [[King's Crown (symbol)|Columbia crowns]] on the lapels in [[1963]], reasoning that the lighter colored robes were more comfortable in the summer heat. Barzun calls the change his "most revolutionary deed."<ref>[http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan06/cover.php Living Legacies: Jacques Barzun '27, Columbia College Today, January 2006]</ref> They have since become light blue to match the [[school colors]].

==History==

As the earliest European universities were founded as seminaries and monasteries, the earliest scholars were required to don monastic habits. This was as much practical as demanded by religious tradition -- universities were often housed in unheated castles and it could get quite cold. As medieval universities gradually gave way to secular centers of learning, the academic regalia, now known as the ''academic habit'' was retained.

The rules of academic costume at English universities was first brought to the colonies by [[King's College]], which adopted the rules then in force at [[Oxford]]. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton subsequently took their cues from King's and adopted similar rules.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=H8_mAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA554#v=onepage&q&f=false Whence the Cap and Gown? Columbia Alumni News, Vol. 12 No. 33, June-July 1921, Pg. 554]</ref>

Notably, at Columbia University, students were once required to don academic regalia at all times while on campus. This only ended in [[1864]]. Now, at the [[University of Cambridge]] and the [[University of Oxford]], academic regalia is only required during Convocation, examinations, and Commencement. At most American universities, including Columbia, it is only required during [[Commencement]].

After failed attempts to change the design of the robes in [[1948]] and [[1958]], Columbia debuted new slate-grey robes with crowns embroidered on lapels below the yoke designed by then-provost [[Jacques Barzun]] in [[1963]]. Barzun felt that black robes made the annual outdoor [[commencement]] exercises an ordeal, and that the lighter colored robes would make the event more tolerable.<ref>Stephen Wolgast, "King's Crowns: The History of Academic Dress at King's College and Columbia University," Transactions of the [[w:Burgon Society|Burgon Society]] 9 (2009)</ref>

==Tradition and hierarchy==

Academic habits vary with respect to the degree conferred and the level of scholarship attained by the wearer. The bachelor's gown is a simple cotton garment that covers the entire body. The master's gown is supposed to be made of silk, though it is often made of cotton as well with the addition of longer, closed sleeves. The [[doctoral]] robe (both research and professional doctorates) is usually the most elaborate. It is made of velvet, with stripes on the arms, and includes a hood signifying the holder's area of scholarly interest. University administrators, such as the [[University President]] and various [[Deans]], usually wear even more elaborate attire.

==Headgear==

Bachelors and masters usually wear the square mortarboard. Doctoral students and faculty usually wear the softer tam.

==Colors and standardization==

There is very little rhyme, reason, or standardization with respect to American academic regalia today (though, to be fair, the European system is even worse). An effort was made in [[1893]], when the American Intercollegiate Commission met at Columbia University, chaired by [[Seth Low]], to decide on a uniform code of attire. ([[Harvard]], which by this point despised the idea of being told what to do in these matters, refused to attend.) A code was adopted in 1895, with technical advisor Gardner Leonard devising a method for indicating individual schools in otherwise standardized uniforms. Hoods would be lined in silk with the school's own colors in such a way as to form a heraldric chevron.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=H8_mAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA554#v=onepage&q&f=false Whence the Cap and Gown? Columbia Alumni News, Vol. 12 No. 33, June-July 1921, Pg. 554]</ref> In 1932 a new commission was authorized by the [[w:American Council on Education|American Council on Education]] to promulgate new rules, and in 1959 another committee further revised the rules. However, by the mid-20th century, universities had begun to go their own route once again.

For faculty and doctoral robes, however, the following holds true: the robe itself is specific to the university, while the hood trim indicates the academic discipline. This is why some faculty members march in [[NYU]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], and [[Harvard]] robes. In addition, the faculty member wears the robe indicative of his or her highest degree. If the highest degree is an honorary degree, then the faculty member has a choice on whether to wear the robe of the school that conferred the honorary degree, or the one that conferred his highest earned degree.

The specific discipline colors are as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Faculty
! Color
! Sample
|-
| [[Agriculture]]
| [[Corn (color)|Maize]]
| style="background-color: #FBEC5D;" |
|-
| [[Arts]], [[Letters]], [[Humanities]]
| [[White]]
| style="background-color: white;" |
|-
| [[Commerce]], [[Accountancy]], [[Business]]
| [[Olive drab|Drab]]
| style="background-color: #908435;" |
|-
| [[Dentistry]]
| [[Lilac (color)|Lilac]]
| style="background-color: #C8A2C8;" |
|-
| [[Economics]]
| [[Copper (color)|Copper]]
| style="background-color: #B87333" |
|-
| [[Education]]
| [[Sky blue|Light Blue]]
| style="background-color: #6495ED" |
|-
| [[Engineering]], [[Computer Science]]
| [[Orange (color)|Orange]]
| style="background-color: orange;" |
|-
| [[Fine Arts]], [[Architecture]]
| [[Brown]]
| style="background-color: #964B00" |
|-
| [[Forestry]]
| [[Russet]]
| style="background-color: #583D00;" |
|-
| [[Journalism]]
| [[Crimson]]
| style="background-color: #DC143C;" |
|-
| [[Law]]
| [[Purple]]
| style="background-color: purple" |
|-
| [[Library Science]]
| [[Lemon]]
| style="background-color: #FEF667;" |
|-
| [[Medicine]]
| [[Green]]
| style="background-color: green;" |
|-
| [[Music]]
| [[Pink]]
| style="background-color: pink;" |
|-
| [[Nursing]]
| [[Apricot]]
| style="background-color: #F0A900;" |
|-
| [[Oratory]], [[Speech]], [[Aviation]]
| [[Silver (color)|Silver Gray]]
| style="background-color: silver;" |
|-
| [[Pharmacy]]
| [[Olive (color)|Olive Green]]
| style="background-color: olive" |
|-
| [[Philosophy]]
| [[Dark Blue]]
| style="background-color: darkblue;" |
|-
| [[Physical Education]]
| [[Sage|Sage Green]]
| style="background-color: #6D8904;" |
|-
| [[Public Administration]], [[Public Policy]], [[Foreign Service]]
| [[Peacock|Peacock Blue]]
| style="background-color: #007AB0" |
|-
| [[Public Health]]
| [[Salmon Pink]]
| style="background-color: salmon;" |
|-
| [[Science]]
| [[Gold (color)|Golden Yellow]]
| style="background-color: gold;" |
|-
| [[Social Work]]
| [[Citron]]
| style="background-color: #F5C900;" |
|-
| [[Theology]], [[Divinity (academic discipline)|Divinity]]
| [[Scarlet (color)|Scarlet]]
| style="background-color: #FF2400;" |
|-
| [[Veterinary Science]]
| [[Gray]]
| style="background-color: gray;" |
|}

==Trivia==
*Professor [[Wm. Theodore de Bary]] wears the Columbia doctoral robe that he wore when receiving his first honorary degree (D. Litt., St. Lawrence, 1968) with the hood that he wore when recieving his last honorary degree (D. Litt., Columbia, 1994).
*Professor [[Eric Foner]] wears a tartan hood from the one school that has ever given him an honorary degree when participates in [[Commencement]] related activities - [[Iona College]], a small catholic college in [[New Rochelle]], a city in southern [[Westchester]].

== External links ==
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=0T0BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false Cap and Gown in America, by Gardner C. Leonard (1896)]

==References==
<references/>

==Gallery==

<gallery>
Image:regaliadoctorate.jpg|Present-day doctoral gown
Image:regaliamasters.jpg|Present-day master's gown. Note the long sleeves that distinguish them from a Bachelor's degree gown.
Image:regaliaadmin.jpg|[[Prezbo]], [[Zvi]], and [[Quigley|Quigs]] in their spiffy attire
</gallery>

[[Category:Traditions]]
[[Category:Commencement]]

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Academic regalia