Academic Costume
The wearing of academic dress dates back to the early days of the oldest universities in the world. In the American Council on Education’s book entitled American Universities and Colleges, it is suggested that “Gowns may have been counted necessary for warmth in the unheated buildings frequented by medieval scholars. Hoods seem to have served to cover the tonsured head. . . .”
Throughout the years, European universities have continued to show great diversity in their academic dress. American universities, on the other hand, when they decided to adopt academic dress, immediately established a code of regulations which today is followed by almost all American institutions. The establishment of this code has made it possible to distinguish the bachelors, masters, and doctors and, at the same time, recognize the university which has given the degree.
The bachelor’s gown has pointed sleeves and is worn closed. The master’s gown, worn open or closed, has oblong sleeves, the front part of which frequently is cut away at the elbow. The doctor’s gown has bell-shaped sleeves. It is worn open or closed. Cotton poplin or similar material is used for the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and rayon or silk ribbed material is used for the doctor’s degree.
At Rutgers, members of the Board of Governors and Board of Trustees, as well as those who hold a doctoral degree from the university, wear the Rutgers gown, which is scarlet with black velvet front panels framed on the outer edge with gold cord braid. The velvet panels are embroidered with a crown and the year 1766 at the neck, signifying the university's founding as one of the original colonial colleges under King George III of England.
The hoods vary in size: 48 inches for the doctor’s degree, 42 inches for the master’s, and 36 inches for the bachelor’s. All hoods are lined in silk in the academic color or colors of the institution conferring the degree. If the institution has more than one color, the colors are shown in divisions using chevrons. The binding or edge of the hood is usually made of velvet in the color designating the subject in which the degree was granted. Black mortarboards are worn for all degrees.
Some of the colors in the binding of the hood are: maize, Agriculture; white, Arts and Letters; orange, Engineering; purple, Law; lemon, Library Service; green, Medicine; light blue, Education; olive, Pharmacy; blue, Philosophy; gold Science; and citron, Social Work.
The color or colors of the lining of the hood for the nine colonial colleges are: scarlet, Rutgers; crimson, Harvard; green-gold-silver, William and Mary; blue, Yale; red-blue, Pennsylvania; orange-black, Princeton; light blue-white, Columbia; brown, Brown; and green-white, Dartmouth.