UC Davis: Spotlight: Lessons learned

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Lessons learned
How students and professors changed in the classroom
Factoids from the faculty cap and gown closet
Why are commencement tickets limited?

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University Communications

Third floor Mrak Hall
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

(530) 752-1930

Students started the tradition

"About 1885 there was a widespread student movement in America to wear caps and gowns at commencement ceremonies. The graduating students seemed to feel a need for a significant and dignified apparel for the occasion, and the democratic as well as the traditional qualities of the cap and gown appealed to them.

"The faculties were quick to approve this practical and dignified graduation dress, and soon members of the faculty themselves adopted the custom of wearing gowns at academic ceremonies."

From Caps, Gowns and Commencements, first published in 1939

Factoids from the cap and gown closet

By Dave Jones

Academic gowns stemmed from the 12th century when men and women of all walks of life wore long, full-flowing gowns.
According to Caps, Gowns and Commencements,, as fashions changed, "the scholars kept with the original styles, both because they were prescribed by university statute and because 'it is honourable and in accordance with reason that clerks to whom God has given an advantage over the lay folk in their adornments within, should likewise differ from the lay folk outwardly in dress,' " a quote taken from "a solemn enactment passed in 1358 at Oxford against the tailors, who were trying to shorten the length of the university gowns."
The doctoral hood is the scarflike adornment that goes around the neck and drapes down the back of those who have received a doctorate.
The hood's lining color signifies the university where one receives one's doctoral degree.
UC hoods are black with accents of blue velvet and gold satin.
Doctoral hoods at University of California campuses have a "blue" lining because of the university's early connection to Yale (an original blue lining school), where many of UC's original administrators and more prominent professors came from.
UC's gold colors in the gown represent the Golden State; the state flower, the golden poppy; and the Golden Gate, visible from Berkeley, the first UC campus.
UC Davis owns about 400 academic robes — which used to be enough for all faculty who wanted them when the university was smaller.
Today, the campus rents an additional 200 gowns annually to meet the current faculty demand.
What size gown a person gets usually is dictated by his or her height, with gowns available for people from 4-foot-10 to 6-foot-4.
Cap sizes are based on head circumference, from 21 5/8 to 27 1/2 inches.
The faculty wardrobe also includes a number of one-size-fits-all blue velvet and gold satin caps.
Hood accent colors representing U.S. universities cover a wide spectrum, from Harvard's crimson and Princeton's orange to Northwestern's purple and Hawaii's holly green.
A hood also can include an accent color that denotes the bearer's academic specialty, such as science (gold-yellow) or agriculture (maize).

Dave Jones is the associate editor of Dateline UC Davis, the faculty/staff newspaper. For more on UC Davis' faculty caps and gowns, read "Regalia tradition has bright history in universities."