Beginning in the 1960s, academic hood lists published by Kevin Sheard (Academic Heraldry in America in 1962 and Academic Dress and Insignia of the World in 1970) and the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (in 1972) described the Chicago Medical School and the Illinois College of Podiatry as having hoods lined purple with a gold chevron.

Today the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science uses an academic hood lined white with a black chevron, which — when worn with the university’s maroon gown — displays all three of the school’s colors. Unfortunately, the hood lining pattern the university has chosen for itself duplicates the lining the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) assigned the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary (Virginia Theological Seminary) before 1923.

To avoid this problem, the black chevron of Rosalind Franklin’s hood lining has been inverted, a solution the IBAC often used in similar circumstances. That said, the university may want to consider using a black saltire (“X”) to echo the X-ray diffraction pattern for B-DNA that is used in the school’s seal.