To avoid assigning duplicate hood linings to colleges and universities that used the same school colors, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) used different types of heraldic patterns to divide the two or more colors in an academic hood. One of the heraldic divisions the Bureau employed quite frequently was a “double chevron”. The typical width of a normal chevron was between three and four inches, but the double chevron pattern used two chevrons of about 1½ inches in width placed approximately two inches apart so that the color of the hood lining showed between them.

The IBAC assigned Lake Erie College a hood lining between 1902 and 1927. The dark green color sample the college sent the IBAC was in the college’s olive hue, because IBAC lists from 1927, 1948, and 1972, as well as lists by Kevin Sheard in both Academic Heraldry in America (1962) and Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970) all described Lake Erie’s hood lining as olive green with two white chevrons. The Intercollegiate Bureau defined “olive green” as a dark green shade. The two white chevrons were used to avoid duplicating the hood lining already assigned to Ohio University (olive green with a white chevron) around 1902. Both institutions are located in Ohio, and both used olive green and white school colors.