Davidson College

At Davidson College, the commencement ceremony is a formal and deeply traditional event. Graduates are required to wear a plain black cap and gown, in keeping with Davidson’s established academic dress code. The tassel begins on the right side of the mortarboard and, per tradition, caps should sit level on the head.

Davidson students may adorn their regalia with cords and stoles, but only those from recognized Davidson College student organizations. These are often used to mark identity groups or honor societies: for example, recent graduating classes have received custom stoles or cords tied to their identity communities, such as Kente stoles for the Black Student Coalition or cords for first‑generation graduates.

When it comes to academic hoods and discipline colors, Davidson’s Academic Regulations define a range of color codes. For example, the discipline of Engineering is represented by orange velvet trim, while golden yellow stands for Science, light blue for Education, dark blue for Philosophy, and apricot for Nursing. For doctoral gowns, there are no extra trimmings on the bachelor’s or master’s gowns—only the graduate’s hood reflects the academic field with colored velvet.

Davidson’s honor distinctions are awarded based on GPA, using the following Latin honors scale in its Academic Code: cum laude (GPA 3.500–3.749), magna cum laude (3.750–3.999), and summa cum laude (4.000). However, the publicly available commencement materials do not explicitly tie specific cord colors to each of these Latin honors categories, so honors cords appear more tied to student organizations than to GPA distinctions.

In short, Davidson College’s academic regalia system emphasizes uniform black gowns and caps, while allowing student-affiliated cords and stoles to reflect community identity. The institution uses traditional discipline-based hood colors for graduate-level academic regalia, but does not publicly assign cord colors to Latin honors in its commencement policy.

Note: To confirm the exact colors of the graduation gown, cap, tassel, honor cords, and stoles for your specific program at Davidson College, you can reach out directly to the college's administration or the office responsible for commencement and student services. They can provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding academic regalia.