Regalia and Announcements

Orders for your academic regalia and personalized announcements will be done online at www.herffjones.com/college/graduation between February 1, 2013 and March 29, 2013. No orders will be taken after March 29. You will not be charged for the cost of the cap, gown and tassel; you will need to pay a $15.95 shipping fee as your order will be mailed directly to you.

Master’s degree recipients will receive their hoods on stage at Commencement. If you will not be attending, your hood will be mailed to you after May 13.

Those graduating with a Bachelor's Degree with Honors will receive an Honor Cord, which will be distributed at the Honors Ceremony.

Other graduation items will also be available for purchase at the Campus Bookstore. These items include:

• Class Ring: Representatives from Herff Jones will be available at the Bookstore on March 1st and March 6th from 11 am to 1 pm and March 8th from 11 am to 2 pm to help you place your order. A deposit of $50 is required with your order, and the balance is due when you pick up the ring. Delivery of the rings takes 10 to 12 weeks.
• Chaminade Alumni logo items are also available for purchase at the Bookstore.
• Graduation Regalia will not be issued at the Blaisdell Arena on Commencement night.

Academic attire is as old as Universities themselves. Nearly all of them derive from some form of clerical or priestly garb worn by students and faculty in the Middle Ages. In Europe, each institution has its own variant of costume; in America, academic apparel follows a uniform code that was drawn up by a special commission in 1895. The code has three main parts: cap, gowns, and hoods.

The Oxford-type cap or mortar–board evolved from the square biretta of Renaissance churchmen. It is always black and may be of any appropriate material, although velvet is reserved for doctors. The tassel worn with the cap is switched from the right to the left side at the moment the degree is awarded.

Gowns are all black as designated by the code and are three kinds. The bachelor’s gown is a relatively simple type, falling in straight line from a fairly elaborate toke. Its distinguishing characteristic is the long, pointed sleeves. Master’s gowns are set apart by a peculiar arrangement of the long sleeves whereby the arms emerge from the sleeves through slits at the wrist. The doctor’s gown is an elaborate costume marked by velvet panels down the front and three bars of the same material on the bell-shaped sleeves. Both the color of the paneling and the bars show the faculty in which the degree was awarded.

The hood alone clearly displays the level of the degree, the faculty in which it was given, and the institution which awarded it. The level of the degree is shown by the size of the hood, by the width of the velvet trimming and, in the case of the doctor, by the shape. For each faculty, there is a corresponding color so that a glance at the trimming is all that is needed to identify the faculty. The institution which awarded the degree is indicated by the colored lining. The colors seen most often in procession represent the following fields:
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arts, Letters, Humanities
Drab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commerce, Accountancy, Business
Light Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education
Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fine Arts
Pink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Music
Apricot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nursing
Dark Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Philosophy
Golden Yellow . . . . . . . . . . . Science
Scarlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theology