Academic Regalia
In the 12th and 13th centuries, many Europeans wore long, flowing robes and gowns. Royal decree dictated materials and colors appropriate for each station in society. As trade guilds developed, so did gowns distinctive to particular professions. Thus, when students in medieval universities organized into guilds, they donned long gowns and hoods which helped keep them warm in unheated buildings. Usually, students were members of the clergy and wore hoods to protect their shaved heads. These hoods later became ornamental.
In the Renaissance, churchmen adopted the stiff, square cap known as the biretta. Such caps originated in the headdress of ordinary people and ranged from inflexible to pliant, from square to round; ultimately the biretta led to the familiar mortarboard first popularized at Oxford University. The tassel elaborates the tuft originally decorating the center of a round cap.
Throughout the growth of universities, designs for gowns, hoods and caps became standard. Apprentices of the arts (bachelors), teachers (masters) and erudite teachers who completed post-graduate studies (doctors) wore differing gowns and hoods, with strict rules governing these variations. From 1754 until after the Civil War, American students and faculty wore gowns and caps daily on campus and in class. A formal system of academic costume in the United States resulted from a conference at Columbia University in 1895. Current customs remain substantially the same as those adopted in 1895 and standardized by the Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume.
The basic color for all gowns is formal black although a few institutions allow robes in the university’s colors.
Associate and bachelor gowns have long, pointed, open sleeves. By contrast, the master’s gown has extremely long, closed sleeves from which the wearer’s arms protrude at the elbows, and the lower part of the sleeves, ending in a tippet, dangle below the arms. The master’s hood has a wide, velvet edging and exposes part of the satin lining. Bachelor and master tassels are usually black but may appear in a color indicating the academic discipline. The doctor’s gown has bell-shaped sleeves and displays velvet down the front and on each sleeve’s three crossbars; the velvet is black or a color signifying the wearer’s academic discipline. Unlike the other academic hoods, the doctoral hood is characterized by great length, by wider velvet edging in a color representing the wearer’s academic discipline, and by the full exposure of the satin lining in colors of the university which conferred the doctorate. The doctor’s tassel is gold.
Presidential Medallion and University Seal
During the Middle Ages, medallions signified membership in religious orders and guilds. Today, colleges and universities strike medallions to commemorate important events and achievements. Donated by the late Dr. Melvin Denner, Professor Emeritus of Biology, and Anne Denner, former Instructor in Nutrition and Biology, and their family, the University’s first Presidential Medallion was used in the March 17, 1995, inauguration of Dr. H. Ray Hoops, the University’s second President. Dr. Linda L. M. Bennett also wore this medallion for her inauguration on October 15, 2009. The Presidential Medallion signifies the authority vested in the President. The medallion’s obverse carries, at its center, a three-inch reproduction of the University Seal and, surrounding the seal, a half-inch rim. On the reverse appear the names and dates of appointment for the University’s presidents. The President wears this medallion for all formal academic ceremonies.
For President Ronald S. Rochon’s inauguration on April 5, 2019, a new medallion was struck with an updated seal, and a new chain was fabricated. In addition to the names of USI’s past presidents on the reverse side of the medallion, the new chain was commissioned bearing their names on four separate plates. The medallion and chain were underwritten by a generous gift from University Trustee and alumnus, Ronald D. Romain ’73 and alumna Connie Dartt Romain ’74. This medallion was reworked with updates to the chain for the inauguration on October 16, 2025, of the University’s fifth President, Steven J. Bridges.
The University Seal, originally designed by Nussmeier Engraving Company, Evansville, and updated in 2018, bears the University’s colors—blue, red and white—with gray. The Seal of the University was designed to signify the importance of higher education in defending citizens against ignorance. Between the two banners displaying the University’s name appears an open book, illuminated by the torch of knowledge. Trees on either side of the flame suggest not only the University’s pastoral southern Indiana setting, but also life, growth and continuity. The open book emphasizes the importance of teaching and learning; academia populi and academia populo indicate the University of Southern Indiana is a scholarly academy founded and supported where education by the people and education for the people flourishes. Finally, the laurel branches to the right and left of the book represent victory: the light of learning overcoming the darkness of ignorance.
University Mace
In the Middle Ages, bodyguards of French and English monarchs carried ceremonial maces. Later, the mace became an important symbol of office in civil processions and academic pageantry. At the University of Southern Indiana, the grand marshal, a distinguished member of the faculty, carries the mace.
A replica of Richard Owen’s walking cane serves as the staff for the University mace. A respected geologist and Professor of Natural Science at Indiana University, Owen was the first President of Purdue University. He was a son of Robert Owen, the Welsh industrialist who established New Harmony, Indiana, as a center for education and enlightened social reform in the early 1800s. The 32-inch-tall wooden cane was presented to Richard Owen in 1874; and through the generosity of his descendant, the late Kenneth Dale Owen, that cane, lent to USI, served as the grand marshal’s staff in all Commencement exercises from 1985 to 1995.
Designed and fabricated by Nicholas Logsdon of Indianapolis, the gold-plated mace bears at the top, above the cane’s golden head, an open orb with a replica of the University seal. The orb’s free-flowing design symbolizes interrelationships among all academic disciplines. Immediately below the cane’s orb, three two-inch golden rings bear the names and appointment dates of the University presidents. The names of Kenneth Dale Owen, Jane Blaffer Owen and James A. Sanders, donors of the mace, appear on a finial near the bottom of the cane replica.
Designed and created by alumnus Kenny Fisher ’77, the replica of the cane and its base are made of walnut from the Owen mansion built in New Harmony during the 1830s.
Gonfalons
Ceremonial flags called gonfalons originated in the Middle Ages for civil and military processions, often appearing beneath the steel head of a knight’s lance. In Italy, gonfalons designated individual Italian republics; the chief magistrate or other high official served as gonfalonier carrying the banner.
At the University of Southern Indiana, gonfalons represent each major academic unit. First used in 2005 and presented to the University as a gift from the Campus Store, new gonfalons were fabricated for the 2019 inauguration of President Ronald S. Rochon.