Academic Traditions

ACADEMIC DRESS: The academic dress worn by today’s graduates reflects a tradition begun in the late 12th century, when universities were taking form. Originally the dress may have had a practical purpose: to keep the student warm in unheated buildings. Today it is ceremonial. American colleges and universities subscribe to a code of academic dress first adopted in 1895. The Academic Costume Code is divided into three parts: caps, gowns, and hoods.

The traditional cap is the mortarboard, which is worn by our bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates. The colored tassels worn from the mortarboards identify the graduate’s discipline or field of study. Boston University’s doctoral candidates wear an octagonal tam with gold tassels.

The gown for the bachelor’s degree is simple, with open sleeves. The master’s gown has a long, curved extension at the bottom of the sleeve, and is narrow at the wrist. Bachelor’s and master’s gowns are always untrimmed. The more ornate doctoral gown is faced with velvet and features three velvet bars on each sleeve. The velvet is black for all disciplines except law, dentistry, and medicine, which are faced with those fields’ traditional colors: purple, lilac, and green. The sleeves are bell-shaped and billowing. Some students also wear cords or stoles over their academic dress to signify academic achievement or extracurricular involvement.

Bachelor’s candidates at Boston University do not wear hoods as part of their dress. The master’s hood is three and one-half feet in length, and the doctoral hood is four feet with panels on the sides. The lining of the hoods is unique to the university: every university, according to the Academic Costume Code, has a distinct pattern. The Boston University hood is lined with a single white chevron on a scarlet field. The color of the velvet edging of the hood corresponds to the graduate’s field of study. Academic disciplines and associated colors seen at today’s Commencement include:

Arts, Letters, Humanities—white
Business, Management—drab
Dental Medicine—lilac
Education—light blue
Engineering—orange
Fine Arts—brown
Law—purple
Medicine—green
Music—pink
Philosophy—dark blue
Physical Therapy—teal
Public Health—salmon
Sciences—yellow
Social Work—citron
Theology—scarlet

THE ACADEMIC PROCESSION: The University Marshal presides over the Academic Procession, standing at the front of the platform. The mace is raised to signify that Commencement is ready to begin; as it is lowered, the music begins and the graduates begin to march onto the field. The graduates are then followed by the alumni and faculty processions. The platform party follows the faculty; the President is the last person in the procession.

ORDER OF PRESENTATION OF CANDIDATES: In today’s Commencement ceremony, the candidates for degrees at Boston University’s schools and colleges are introduced by their respective deans in the order of the anticipated number of candidates receiving degrees, from smallest to largest number of graduates.

THE PRESIDENT’S COLLAR: The collar is a chain of repeating decorative links. Such collars were often worn in the Middle Ages as a badge of office. The Boston University collar, symbolizing the office of the President, is composed of the University seal alternating with the letters BU; a larger seal is suspended from it. The collar was designed in the 1980s by the late Dr. Arthur G. B. Metcalf, alumnus, Associate Founder of the University, and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees.

THE MACE: The mace was originally a weapon of war; heavy, often with a spiked metal head, it was designed to damage an opponent’s armor. It has evolved into a symbol of institutional authority. The academic mace, representing the authority of the university, is carried at the front of formal academic processions.

The Boston University mace was also designed in the 1980s by Dr. Metcalf. It is fashioned of sterling silver and has two University seals intertwined on the button end. In today’s ceremony, it is borne by the University Marshal.

THE RECESSION: At the conclusion of the ceremony, the University Marshal leads the President and the platform party out of Nickerson Field, followed by the faculty and alumni. There is no student recession at the end of Commencement. Graduates and guests are asked to remain in their places until the platform party, faculty, and alumni have left the field.