Union College
New York
1795
Includes Albany College of Pharmacy, Albany Law School, and Albany Medical College and Albany Medical College
Athletic rivals Union College, Harvard University, and St. John’s College (today Fordham University) all used magenta as their school color in the mid 1800s, which was a source of irritation for students at each school. This conflict was resolved in 1875, when Harvard changed its school color to crimson, Fordham changed its school color to maroon, and Union changed its school color to garnet. None of the schools kept magenta.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): garnet (1895-1935)
The Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) assigned a hood for Union College in 1896, as an editorial in volume 23 (number 4) of The Tuftonian (January 1897) stated that the Code “is now recognized and in use by Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, University of the City of New York, Lafayette, Catholic University of America, University of Chicago, Williams, Dartmouth, Union, Bellevue Medical, Jefferson Medical, Rush Medical, and in part by Harvard.” The hood lining was a single color of garnet, according to the 27 July 1902 edition of The Argus, an Albany NY newspaper, which contained a list of IBAC hood lining patterns that had been assigned to some of the more prestigious colleges and universities of the time. Union’s hood assignment was unchanged in subsequent Intercollegiate Bureau lists.