IU Bloomington Commencement

Academic Regalia Requirements

All graduates must wear caps and gowns to participate in Commencement ceremonies. Herff Jones is the only official supplier of academic apparel for graduation at Indiana University Bloomington. The deadline to order caps and gowns online has passed. You must contact the IU Bookstore to order apparel.

Master's gowns and doctoral robes may also be purchased from the IU Bookstore at (812) 855-0547.

Apparel pickup for Spring Commencement is April 30 through May 2 at Gladstein Fieldhouse (enter through the north door).

Who Wears What

ACADEMIC ATTIRE

All candidates for degrees and those who hold these degrees, including university officials and faculty and visiting dignitaries, are attired in traditional cap and gown. The basic color for most caps and gowns is formal black. Recipients of different degrees wear distinctive tassels on their caps (called mortarboards) and hoods of various hues draped down the backs of the gowns.

CAPS

Candidates for degrees wear the regulation cap with the tassel color appropriate to the school or division from which they are being graduated, with the exception of those who already hold doctoral degrees, who wear gold tassels.

The list of tassel colors follows:
Arts and Sciences—White
Business—Drab
Continuing Studies—Silver Gray
Education—Light Blue
Graduate—Royal Blue
Health, Physical Education, and
Recreation—Sage Green
Informatics—Copper
Journalism—Cardinal
Labor Studies—Nile Green
Law—Royal Purple
Library and Information Science—Lemon
Yellow
Medicine—Kelly Green
Music—Pink
Nursing—Apricot
Optometry—Aqua
Public and Environmental Affairs—Peacock
Blue
Social Work—Citron

GOWNS

The bachelor’s and associate’s gowns have a closed front and open sleeves. The master’s
gown has extremely long, closed sleeves, from which the arms extend through a slit at the
wrist; the end of the sleeve is square, with an arc cut away just above the bottom. The doctor’s gown has velvet panels down the front, and voluminous bell-shaped sleeves on which there are three velvet bars. The velvet is usually black, but may be blue for philosophy or green for medicine and optometry.

HOODS

The bachelor’s hood is worn only by those who already hold bachelor’s degrees. It is rather short, with a narrow velvet edging of the appropriate color (see list of tassels) and a lining in the color or colors of the institution—crimson at Indiana.

The master’s hood is considerably longer, has a wider velvet edging, and exposes more of
the lining.

The doctor’s hood is easily recognized by the width of the velvet edging, the wide panels at either side, the greater length, and the full exposure of the lining. The colors of the edging most frequently seen are royal blue for philosophy, green for medicine, royal purple for laws, light blue for education, and aqua for optometry; the colors for the honorary doctoral degrees are royal purple for Doctor of Laws, white for Doctor of Humane Letters, golden yellow for Doctor of Science, and pink for Doctor of Music.

The History of Academic Apparel

Academic costumes are based on a history of nearly eight centuries. In medieval Europe, all townspeople—men and women—wore long flowing robes and gowns. The materials and colors varied according to the wealth and rank of the individual and were governed by royal decree. Gradually, distinctive gowns developed for the various professions, trades, and guilds.

Students in the medieval universities of Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Cambridge organized themselves into guilds. Their usual garb, a long gown, was necessary for warmth in the unheated buildings. Scholars, generally members of church orders, wore robes and also hoods to protect their shaved heads. Later, skull caps were worn on the head and the hood became a cape that could be pulled over the head during unpleasant weather. As additional universities were founded, distinctive forms of the gown and hood were adapted by their faculties for bachelors (apprentices of arts), masters (teachers), and doctors (teachers who had completed postgraduate studies). Variations appeared mostly in the hood and were regulated by strict rules. Tailors who departed from the authorized design could be punished. When caps and hats came into fashion in the fifteenth century, the hoods became ornamental, draped over the shoulders and down the back.

The academic hat was adapted from the headdress of the ordinary people. It was first worn as a symbol of the master’s degree and existed in various forms. Some caps were stiff, some soft, some square, some round with a tuft in the center. The tassel of today is an elaboration of the tuft. The mortarboard style comes to us from Oxford University.

When academic costume came to America in 1754, styles were quite varied, as they still are in Europe today. In our country, usage has been standardized by the Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume.