Saint John’s University
New York
1870
The Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) assigned St. John’s University a hood lined “bright red” with a white chevron at some point before 1927, which is when the university’s hood was first described in an IBAC list. This hood lining arrangement did not change in subsequent IBAC lists.
“Bright red” was a synonym the IBAC used for scarlet, which means that unfortunately – and for reasons unknown – by the mid 1920s the IBAC had assigned several institutions the same hood lining: Boston University (scarlet with a white chevron), Miami University of Ohio (bright red with a white chevron) and St. John’s University (bright red with a white chevron). To avoid this problem, here St. John’s red hood lining has been modified by adding a stripe of dark blue to the middle of the white chevron to create a tri-chevron of white, dark blue, and white.
Red and white have been used at St. John’s University since 1870. Originally, the university’s bright red symbolized the bloody martyrdom of St. John the Baptist and white symbolized his virtue and purity. In 2014 the university added dark blue to the previous color combination of red and white. At that time the university stated that the blue symbolized the Virgin Mary, white symbolized the purity and divinity of her son Jesus Christ, and red symbolized his humanity.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): maroon (1896-1906); red/white (1915-1918); maroon/white (1923-1931)
