Graduation Ceremony Arc

Lore & Background

The academic dress found in most universities in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States is derived from that of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which was a development of academic and clerical dress common throughout the medieval universities of Europe. This overgarment had the practical purpose of keeping a scholar warm while they were sitting, immobile, or studying. Formal or sober clothing is typically worn beneath the gown: for example, men would often wear a dark suit with a white shirt and a tie, or clerical clothing, military or civil uniform, or national dress, and women would wear equivalent attire. Some older universities, particularly Oxford and Cambridge, have a prescribed set of dress (known as subfusc) to be worn under the gown, though this sometimes refers only to requiring the proper wear of academic dress and not what is worn beneath it, if unseen. In the Commonwealth, gowns are worn open, while in the United States, with a few exceptions, it has become common for gowns to close at the front, as did the original roba.

In Their Own Story

In Canada, academic regalia are worn by university officials, faculty, students, and honoured guests during Graduation exercises (commonly referred to as Convocation), installations of their presiding officers, and special convocations, such as the inauguration of newly endowed professorial chairs and inductions to some of the honour and professional societies with university chapters. Academic regalia typically consist of a headgear (mortarboard, Tudor bonnet, or John Knox cap), robe, and hood. Until the 1930s, Canadian universities customarily prescribed academic robes for its professors and students at classes and lectures. At the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, academic gowns are still required for all students and faculty at Wednesday dinners, most college meetings, debates, and certain special college events. Most Canadian universities follow or adopted either the British University academic dress at Oxford or Cambridge universities, or the Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume ratified by most American universities in the late 1890s. Other universities contain elements of the British and American patterns for some or all of their academic costumes. A classic example is the academic dress of McGill University, whose British origins are evident in the regalia of its degree holders. The distinctive ceremonial regalia of McGill University officials, though, are closer to the American pattern for the master's robe with above-the-elbow, square, slit-cut sleeves. The scarlet, doctor of philosophy (PhD) regalia of McGill can now be worn closed-front, unlike the open-front only gown of the University of Cambridge higher doctoral full dress, from which it evolved. Gold strand tassels used in American doctoral regalia are wrapped around McGill's otherwise Tudor-style bonnet or tam.

Reader's Guide

In France, academic dress, also called the toge (from the word toga, an ancient Roman garment), is similar to French judges' court dress, except for its colour, which depends on the academic field in which the wearer graduated. It is nowadays little worn, except by doctors during the opening of the university year or the ceremony for a doctorate honoris causa. For doctors, it consists of: a long gown (a bit similar to a cassock) with a long row of buttons (traditionally, 33, but nowadays usually fewer) in front and a train at the back (which in the current costume is not visible but attached with a button in the inner side of the gown). The gown is in two colours: black and the standard colour of the academic field in which the wearer graduated, with simars (two vertical bands in the front of the gown). An épitoge (epitoga): A piece of cloth with white fur stripes (three for doctors) attached by a button on the left shoulder, with a rectangular, long, thin tail in the front and a triangular, shorter, broad tail in the back (both tails carry the fur stripes); its colour is that of the relevant academic field. The epitoga has evolved from the academic hood, which explains why the French academic dress does not include a hood. A long, wide belt or sash, either black or of the colour of the relevant academic field, ended by fringes (which may be golden or of the same colour as the belt), and attached with a broad, ornamental knot. A white rabat (jabot), over which a white tie may be worn for ceremonial occasions: It is made of lace for the dean of the faculty, the president of the university, and a few other officials, of plain cotton for others. Traditionally only for men, a mortarboard of the colour of the relevant academic field with a golden stripe, which is usually not worn but carried (since the academic dress in France is rarely worn outdoors, and men are not supposed to wear hats indoors), and often even omitted. Nowadays the practice is more relaxed, and the mortarboard is sometimes seen worn by women or worn indoors by men. In principle, a white bow tie (for men only ; quite rarely seen) and white gloves (nowadays never used). Professors who served 20 years are sometimes presented with a sword (identical model to that of French police commissars). The colours of the various academic fields are daffodil (yellow) for literature and arts, amaranth (purplish red) for science, redcurrant (reddish pink) for medicine, scarlet red for law, and violet (purple) for theology. University rectors, chancellors or presidents wear also specific costumes, which are violet regardless of the academic field in which they graduated. The dress exists in two versions: the petit costume ("small costume") and the grand costume ("great costume"). Both are identical in form, and differ only in the presence or absence of the mortarboard and the repartition.

Did You Know?

• Academic dress is also known as academical dress, academicals, or academic regalia.
• The academic dress found in most Commonwealth and US universities is derived from that of Oxford and Cambridge, which itself developed from medieval European academic and clerical dress.
• At the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, academic gowns are still required for all students and faculty at Wednesday dinners, most college meetings, debates, and certain special college events.
• In France, the academic dress for doctors includes an épitoge (epitoga) with three white fur stripes, which evolved from the academic hood, so French academic dress does not include a hood.
• The colours of French academic fields include daffodil (yellow) for literature and arts, amaranth (purplish red) for science, redcurrant (reddish pink) for medicine, scarlet red for law, and violet (purple) for theology.