Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma
1909
In 1909, Southeastern State Normal School faculty and students selected blue and gold as the new school’s colors, but the selection had been rigged – the administration had instructed the faculty to vote for these colors because they would look good on the college’s football uniforms.
The Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) may have assigned Southeastern State College a hood lining in the mid- to late 1950s after the first graduate degree began to be conferred (the Master of Teaching degree). A 1970 description by Kevin Sheard in Academic Dress and Insignia of the World and a 1972 description by the IBAC both stated that the college’s hood lining was blue above light blue with a gold chevron in between.
Blue and gold is a popular collegiate color combination, so to avoid duplicating any of the numerous blue and gold hood linings, the Bureau may have added light blue to the lower half of Southeastern State College’s lining design as a reference to the Normal school origins of the college. Light blue was the IBAC Faculty color for Education.