Petition for New HGSE Regalia Sparks University-Wide Review, But Only Minor Changes

Harvard undertook a University-wide review of Commencement regalia after Doctor of Education Leadership students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education raised concerns about the color of their Commencement robes.

Following the review, which concluded last year, students receiving doctoral degrees more advanced than a master’s will now wear velvet tams instead of mortarboards.

But Ed.L.D. candidates, who hoped to change the color of their Commencement regalia from black to crimson, will still wear black after their proposal was rejected by the Commencement Office and the Office of the University Marshal in December.

Traditionally, Harvard students receiving professional doctorates — like the Ed.L.D. degree — wear black regalia, and students receiving research doctorates, such as Ph.D.s, wear crimson regalia. But when they noticed that some students receiving professional doctorates from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Graduate School of Design wore crimson at Commencement, some Ed.L.D. students began to think that their black robes were a slight.

According to a petition circulated online by Ed.L.D. candidate Victor M. Lee ’05, the difference in regalia “conveys a message that Ed.L.D. are ‘second-class’ citizens in the doctoral community.” The petition eventually received 39 signatures.

“I think the simplest way to put it is that folks would like to see the doctoral regalia treated equitably,” Lee said. “There’s this perception that the crimson regalia is much more distinctive and much more connected to being part of the Harvard-wide community.”

A HGSE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

But in a December email to current HGSE Ed.L.D. candidates, Frank D. Barnes — the director of HGSE’s Ed.L.D. program — announced that Harvard would not change the color of the robes after the review.

“It has been concluded that only PhD degree candidates (and their research degree equivalents) are eligible for the crimson gown, as has been the University’s tradition since first introduced in the 1950s. All other doctoral candidates will wear the black doctoral gown,” Barnes wrote.

Lee and some fellow students have continued to push for changes.

The Harvard Graduate Council — where Lee serves as Chair of Advocacy — passed a resolution last month calling for all doctoral students to wear crimson regalia at commencement, arguing that peer universities allow all doctoral students to wear school colors in accordance with “best practice.”

The resolution was sponsored by members from three Harvard Graduate Schools — HGSE, the Divinity School, and the Extension School.

According to Lee, HGSE Ed.L.D. graduates first challenged the regalia tradition during the Covid-19 pandemic by purchasing their own crimson regalia, which they wore on their virtual commencement ceremony — but the rogue regalia was not well-received by HGSE administrators.

Among current Ed.L.D. candidates, some said they had no preference between regalia colors.

“I understand why the regalia issue is important to some of my colleagues, and it’s just not that important to me,” current Ed.L.D. candidate Robert A. Berretta wrote. “There’s definitely some privilege in my lack of interest in the issue, but if it were up to me I’d probably wear my Eagles hat to graduation.”

— Staff Writer Mackenzie L. Boucher can be reached at mackenzie.boucher@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @Mactruck0528.