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ACADEMIC ATTIRE arose by a process of evolution and modification of the robes worn by medieval students, who were usually clerics in the cathedral schools and monas­ Agriculture/Maize teries established by the church. As early as 1321, a medieval statute required that all doctors, licentiates, and bachelors wear academic gowns and hoods. Gowns were Architecture/ Blue Violet necessary for warmth in the unheated medieval buildings, and hoods may have been Arts, Letters, Humanities/ White designed to cover tonsured heads. Today, immediately after receiving a charter, new institutions adopt a distinctive design for academic attire expressive of their indi­ Commerce, Accountancy, Business/ viduality. Drab Dentistry/Lilac On May 26, 1895, a group of institutional representatives met at Columbia Univer­ sity to establish a uniform code for academic attire in this country. Economics/ Copper Education/ Light Blue The approved academic attire is composed of a cap, a gown, and a hood. The basic Engineering/ article of the attire is the gown, which is usually black in color for all degrees. The Orange basic design for gowns is similar for all degrees; the minor variations in fulness and Fine Arts/ Brown length of sleeves and trimming are indicative of degree levels. fabric is Forestry/ Russet used for the bachelor's and master's gown, and ribbed or material is re­ served for the doctor's gown. Home Economics/Maroon Journalism/ Crimson The hood has become the colorful standard bearer of academic symbolism. By ex­ amining the hood, an informed observer should be able to identify the level of the Law/Purple degree, the academic field of learning in which the degree was earned, and the insti­ Library Science/ Lemon tution that conferred the degree. The hood is made of the same material as the gown. It varies in length from three feet, to three and a half feet, to four feet, representing Medicine/ Green the bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees, respectively. The color or colors of the Music/Pink lining of the hood indicate the institution that conferred the degree (crimson and gray for WSU). The hood is trimmed or edged in a border of either two, three, Nursing/Apricot or five inches in width for the respective degrees. The border color represents the Oratory (Speech)/ Silver Gray faculty or field of study in which the degree was awarded. At WSU, bachelor's degree candidates do not wear hoods. Pharmacy/ Olive Green Philosophy/ Dark Blue The approved cap of the academic costume is the mortarboard or cap-a Physical Education/ Sage Green stiff board nine inches square, usually covered in cotton poplin, Russell cord, or spun rayon, placed on a soft cap made of the same material and joined in a pointed Public Administration, including design in front and back. The front of the cap is shorter than the back, but the color Foreign Service/ Peacock Blue is always that of the gown and is uniformly black for the four-year degrees. Soft Public Health/ Salmon Pink square-topped caps are permissible for women. The use of velvet material has been reserved for the cap for the doctor's degree. A silk cord with a tassel made of many Science/ Golden Yellow strands of threads is attached to a button in the center of the board. The length of the Social Work/ Citron cord and tassel may vary with the degree of the wearer. The tassel and cord may be black for any degree, but gold metallic cord and tassel have been approved for the Theology/ doctor's cap. The tassel may reflect the color of the field of learning in which the Veterinary Medicine/ Gray degree was earned, and a few institutions use tassels of varied colors to indicate aca­ demic honors.

The committee of the American Council on Education on its "Academic Costume Code" states the following: For all academic purposes-including trimming of doctor's gowns, edging of hoods, and tassels of caps-the colors associated with the different subjects are as follows: