page_title: Academic dress of McGill University
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Academic dress of McGill University / History
caption_attribution_description: English: McGill's scarlet, Ph.D. regalia dates back to the early 19th century.
context_page_description: The academic dress of McGill University describes the caps, gowns and hoods which are prescribed by the university for its degree candidates/holders. Until the mid-20th century, McGill also prescribed academic dress for its matriculating or enrolled students as well as its faculty. Founded in 1821, McGill University is consistently ranked as one of Canada's preeminent universities, and among the top 20 universities in the world.
context_section_description: Academic regalia has been part of university life at McGill since it started offering classes in the 1820s at its historic Montreal campus on the flank of Mount Royal. It predates the codification of academic regalia in the United States through the Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume that most American colleges and universities adopted in the late 1890s. Until the 1930s, McGill observed the British tradition of requiring its faculty and students to be attired in academic robes for classes and lectures, "except in those cases in which a dispensation shall have been granted by the faculty." McGill's renowned political economy professor, Stephen Leacock, is often remembered for his black, tattered robe that "had grown greenish with age," but which he wore to the classroom without fail each day, raising concerns among his fellow professors and students that it could one day cause him injury.
  Academic regalia at McGill was traditionally differentiated in accordance with the wearer's status and degree. Matriculating undergraduates had to attend classes in "plain, black stuff gown, not falling below the knee, with round sleeve cut above the elbow.". Graduating students for the bachelor's degree, on the other hand, wore robes falling below their knees with full sleeves cut to the elbow, and black hoods lined in silk which were edged with white rabbit fur. Master's degree candidates/holders wore the same black gown as the bachelor's, with the masters' sleeves appearing in semi-circular cut toward the bottom. Doctors of Philosophy (Ph.D.s), Science, Literature, and Civil Law wore the university's scarlet full dress. The doctoral full dress was the equivalent of the academic dress of the University of Cambridge for its higher doctorates, rather than for its Ph.D.s. It was originally made of scarlet cloth, "faced with silk of the same colour as the lining of their respective hoods." The turned-back, full sleeves of the McGill doctoral dress were also lined up with silk in the same colour that denoted the wearer's field of study. Doctorate and master's hoods were identical in form. They were distinguished from the bachelor hoods by the former's scarlet colour, greater length and absence of rabbit fur. McGill University's official colour is scarlet.
  Faculty and matriculating students at McGill in the 19th and early 20th centuries did not have to wear caps and hoods to classes and lectures. The bachelor's and master's caps for commencement and other formal ceremonies were of the mortarboard-style or the square academic cap described in university bulletins or "calendars" as "the ordinary black trencher with black tassel." In contrast, doctoral degree holders wore the black, velvet Tudor bonnet or tam associated with the University of Cambridge's full doctoral dress. Ribboned together around the McGill bonnet's crown were two gold strand tassels.
caption: McGill's scarlet, Ph.D. regalia dates back to the early 19th century
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