What Your Academic Dress at Commencement Means

During commencement, you will get to continue an age-old tradition by wearing the same attire as generations of Buffs.

During the early years of CU Boulder, graduating students wore their best clothes at commencement instead of the now-traditional caps and gowns.

In 1890, students began wearing four-sided velvet “senior caps” with tassels that resemble modern Oxford caps. In 1894, colleges and universities in the United States standardized the style and color of academic dress, leading to the black gowns that graduating students at CU Boulder still wear today.