Because the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) did not use metallic fabrics, a school that used an “orange” color might be assigned an “old gold” hood color, or vice versa. For instance, according to IBAC lists from 1927, 1948, and 1972, the Bureau assigned Wartburg a hood lining that was black with three old gold chevrons, even though the college’s colors were black and orange. Independent researcher Kevin Sheard tended to more accurately describe the actual hue of the school’s fabric, so in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) and Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970) Sheard said that Wartburg’s academic hood lining was black with three orange chevrons.

The Intercollegiate Bureau had assigned Wartburg three chevrons to avoid duplicating the hoods it had already assigned to Milligan College (originally black with orange chevron), Findlay College (black with orange chevron), and the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy (black with two orange chevrons, but defunct in 1944). Each of the three orange chevrons on Wartburg’s hood lining was about 1½ inches wide and was placed about two inches apart so that the orange color of the hood lining showed between them.