Occidental College
California
1887
After Occidental College was founded in 1887, students selected orange, wine, and olive as the school colors. In 1905 the Occidental Athletic Association changed these colors to black and gold, but a year later the President of the college modified the colors to black and burnt orange, believing them to be the colors of Princeton University. Both Occidental and Princeton were founded as Presbyterian schools, but the actual colors of Princeton are black and orange (not burnt orange).
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): orange/black (1914-1935)
Academic hood lists published by the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) in 1927, 1948, 1969, and 1972 consistently described Occidental College as having a hood lined burnt orange with a black chevron.
A list compiled by Kevin Sheard in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) cited the college’s hood lining as orange with a black chevron, but this was erroneous because it did not accurately describe the correct shade of Occidental’s (burnt) orange.