In 1895 Lafayette College became one of the first institutions to adopt the new Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume, according to the 1896 edition of the Living Church Quarterly (published December 1895) and The Biography of A College, Volume Two by David Skillman (1932: Lafayette College). Skillman further stated that the Board of Trustees of Lafayette selected maroon as the single color of the college’s hood lining. The University of Chicago would also select a maroon lining for their hoods one year later, in 1896.

So to avoid a duplication of this sort, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) added a chevron to Lafayette’s hood in the college’s secondary color, white. Lafayette did not appear in a published IBAC list until c.1912, and here it had the definitive pattern probably assigned sixteen years earlier – a maroon lining with a white chevron. This description is repeated in a 1918 Intercollegiate Bureau list and remained unchanged in all subsequent IBAC lists.