School colors

The Blue and White (Mark Holden C '09)

Columbia's official School Colors are "Columbia Blue" and white. Both colors were originally drawn from the two literary societies that were at the heart of student life in the 19th century: Philolexian Blue, and Peithologian White.

The history of Blue and White dates back to 1852, when the Philolexian and Peithologian Societies cut back on their use of two colors each (Blue and Silver for Philo, White and Gold for Peitho) to one apiece. While the colors entered into general usage by students during the 19th century, they first came into prominent use by the school in 1873 "at the boat race in Springfield" according to Dean John Howard Van Amringe.

"Columbia Blue" has been a hard color to pin down historically. A column in the February 1949 Columbia Alumni News lamented the lack of a designated color, and set about to investigate. The magazine noted that it used a shade of turquoise for its cover, that the University had adopted a shade called azure for the University Shield, and that on top of that "there are the variegated blues of programs, announcements, and invitations. There is no single Columbia blue."

The curator of Columbiana described the color as "the blue of the sky close to the horizon on a clear day," but confessed that "Oh, I just tear off the a piece of the cover of the University catalogue" when requesting the color from printers, and Columbia University Press's printing office simply stated that "Why, we just ask for Columbia blue."

As a result, to this day a wide array of blues are used. However, the University has trademarked a set of blues that one can safely assume is now the "official" Columbia Blue. It's worth noting however the range of Columbia Blue has included shades much closer to Cyan than the current shade.

The Philolexian Society maintains, in mock indignation, the position that the school colors are in fact stolen. In 1986, one member of the society wrote a letter to the President of the University demanding $1 million in restitution.

List of colors and uses

Color	Name	Source
	Columbia Blue 3, Pantone 292.	Trademarked by Columbia (trademarx.com)
	Columbia Blue 2, Pantone 291.	Trademarked by Columbia (trademarx.com)
	Columbia Blue 1, Pantone 295.	Trademarked by Columbia (trademarx.com)
		The shade of blue used on Columbia.edu from 1999-2003
		The shade of blue used on subpages of Columbia.edu from 1996-1999
		The shade of blue used on a graphic of the University Shield that's been floating around for years.
	Azure	In Heraldry, the term Azure refers to a spectrum of blues. Columbia defined the blue of its Shield as "azure".