Faculty
Procession and Regalia
October 12, 2003
Students, staff, and faculty marched in the University Day Procession
as they do in Commencement celebrations in December and May each
year. Faculty wear academic regalia which indicate the institution
and field of degree according to long traditions within the academy.
With roots dating back to the 12th century, academic
gowns resembled cleric robes of Europe with the practical purpose
of keeping faculty warm in drafty unheated institutions. The heavy
fabric is rarely required in Chapel Hill in May but has proved useful
in faculty offices during the ever more frequent ice and snow storms
of recent years in the Carolinas.
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Several years ago UNC was approved for special regalia by the American
Council on Education. A special medallion was minted for faculty
regalia for the Bicentennial
Celebration on University Day in 1993 and the United State Postal
Service issued Cachets, celebrating the first public University
in the United States.
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