Graduation Stoles
 

Is it a tradition within your organization to wear a stole at graduation? If so - what kind of reprentation of your fraternity/sorority do you have besides the obvious (colors, letters)?

Thanks!

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Pure as Silver, and True Blue!
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies

At my university, the only individuals allowed to wear stoles are those who are receiving graduate and doctoral degrees.

It's usually tradition to decorate graduation caps, and sometimes we like to cut our letters out of felt and paste them onto the caps.

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*I'm an Alpha Gam...Yes I am, Yes I am!*

Brookline, ignorance has nothing to do with it. I didn't know what a stole was until high school graduation.

A stole is that piece of material a person wears with the graduation gown. Usually the color of the stole denotes what field you are getting your degree in.

Are you referring to the v-neck shaped cloth that kind of goes on top of the black cloak thingy? I think I'm getting the drift, but not 100% sure!

(When you guys were talking about a stole, the first thing that came to mind was a "mink stole"!) http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/redface.gif

equeen, to answer part of your question, I have seen pictures of grads where they put their Greek Letters in masking tape on the top of their grad caps. That way, people from above can look down and see the letters!

Since a ton of girls from my sorority graduated last semester, we made them. We just used white cloth and had our letters put on them in our sorority colors. It was really cool and it definitely directed a lot of attention to us.

Actually, that's a hood, not a stole.

I've seen these types of stoles at graduations and some formal events:

http://www.primeheritage.com/images/...stoles2_sm.jpg

http://www.primeheritage.com/images/...hot3_small.jpg

Thanks for the pics above. I have no idea that such things existed.
At a school I attended, we had a black drapey robe, and then a blue v shaped collar that got plopped on top (no hood attached though), so that was what I was thinking at first:
[img] http://www.alumni.bcit.ca/images/homegraphic.gif [/img]

[This message has been edited by CutiePie2000 (edited February 20, 2001).]

You're welcome. FYI the "blue v-shaped collar that gets plopped on top" IS the hood. It's not the cover-your-head type of hood that's on a jacket or sweatshirt.

[This message has been edited by 12dn94dst (edited February 20, 2001).]

Ah so! Thanks for clarifying that. At my high school graduation, my teachers wore gowns that actually had head-covering hoods attached, hence my confusion.

I know what hoods are, but at my school we also have the different colors of stoles that people wear to indicate what field they're in.

It wasn't a tradition where I went to school, but we had several requests from our Sigma Alpha chapters, so now we offer both stoles and cords. The cords are similar to an honor cord, and are in our colors.

Some schools apparently don't allow them for the graduation ceremony itself, but at other campuses, I hear that all the GLOs wear them.

12dn94dst - those stoles are the COOLEST!!!! I wish we would have known about things like that, but even if we had, the school wouldn't have allowed it. Party poopers.

Brooklineu & others,
The stoles that 12dn94dst displayed are actually Americanized versions of traditional Kente cloth from the Ashante (or is it Asante? African scholars help me out!) Nation of Ghana. If I am remembering my history correctly, the cloths are hand woven (the original ones, I'm sure a lot of the ones here are mass produced and marketed). The different weaves have different meanings based on the situation that you would wear it, your place in society, and, I think, special atributes about you (signifying bravery, for instance.) I also think these cloths were reserved for royal families and special high ranking officials. The sorority or fraternity are not 'authentic' kente cloth, but copies of them.

Thanks for such an interesting and informative explanation! I thought the stoles looked almost "religious" (like what a minister would wear), but now I see there is further meaning. Just to let you know, I think you must be referring to "Ashanti". (I've been to Africa, and I did come across this word in conversation/reading). http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

Thanks again!

Equeen, we have Greek stoles at our school. Any Greek member can wear them when they graduate. They have the greek alphabet on them in our school colors. We don't have a different stole for each sorority and fraternity. That would be cool though. It's just to show everyone how proud we are to be Greek. Along with that, it's also nice to wear something on the robe that makes me look important. Hee, hee!

I have the technical info on this somewhere...I did ia paper on this a few years ago. In brief, BA candidates (what you are called until you actually are conferred the degree)wear the traditional gown (robe), Masters candidates wear the traditional gown, but with an extra length of fabric hanging on the sleeves and doctoral candidates are distinguished by three stripes of equal length and size on the sleeve, usually of velvet. As for colors, each different major at a university has its own color (there are like 75 of them at my univ) and for the masters and doctoral candidates the degree fields color is accentuated by the university's colors. I will try to find more info from my paper.

You are correct. I have seen it ashante, asante, and ashanti. An excellent site is at: http://www.ashanti.com.au/ check it out.

You are correct. I have seen it ashante, asante, and ashanti.
Ah! I see...I didn't realize there were different variations of spelling (because of how it's pronounced in the native tribal language, and then trying to convey that phonetically in English).

Speaking of Africa, this is kind of funny. Most of us have seen "The Lion King" and know the song "Hakuna Matata"....(how it means "no worries"...blah blah). Anyhow, when I was in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, I asked a Zimbabwean "What does Hakuna Matata mean?" just to see what he would say. He stated laughing and he said, "It means 'don't worry about it'...how did you find this out? It's a Shona expression". So I guess Disney did do some legitimate research! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by CutiePie2000 (edited February 23, 2001).]

You are correct. I have seen it ashante, asante, and ashanti.
[/B][/QUOTE]

Thanks....i guess I got 2 out of 3, huh? http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

I cannot find a "Class of 2002" stole anywhere!
 

I must've went to 4 or 5 Africentric shops in Columbus, and NONE of them have a "Class of 2002" graduation stole. They only have "Class of 2001"! I have worn kente stoles at every college graduation I have been in (Class of '94, Class of '97), and I am not passing up the opportunity to wear one to receive my third degree.

If any Columbus folx can help me out, please do so quickly. I graduate next Friday (5/11/02).

Hey, if you really graduate on 5/11/02, then you had better show up on Saturday, not Friday!

I am not wearing a stole. I am decorating my hat. The caps and gowns here are rented and returned at the end of graduation, so I am going to put DZ in two sided tape on my cap and then attach pink and green rhinestones (from the craft store) to the tape. That way, I can take it off and they won't get mad.

dzsaigirl
what a cute Idea with the rhinestones and everything... happy early graduation.. may the luck of the world be with you in all you do... and to all the other graduates of 2002 Congrates !!! the world is at your feet:)

I might get another stole instead
 

I am desparate to the point that I am seriously considering buying a Class of 2001 stole and playing like I finished in December!

RM

Our org. wears graduation stoles, basically typical sorority colors and our greek letters. For some reason at our school only NPHC and our other chartered MCGLO wear them. NPC and IFC do not wear stoles. I thought maybe it was a cultural thing.

I don't think my schoool had any rules about what you could or couldn't wear with your (plain black undergrad) robe. The only stoles or cords we wore, though, were from honor societies - no one wore fraternity or sorority stoles.

Our undergrads, too, all wore the same color robes; only the masters and PhD candidates wore different colors. But I loved seeing the profs in their robes! Tartan ones, bright pink ones ... we tried to guess where they were all from.

You can see my sister Mindy here decked out in all her cords:
http://www.geocities.com/axdtm/calendar.html.

Hey Equeen
They do make personalized greek stoles with your sorority/fraternity's colors and letters... they run about twenty dollars and they have it mostly for minority oriented greek organizations and some panhell and ifc greek orgs... I hope that helps, there is a website... but I can't seem to find it right now.... On the website they don't look that appealing,but I've seen people wear them at graduation here and they look really good since no one else has them, people really pay attention to you... It's a great gift for the graduate, especially if you don't know what else to get them...
the standard stole has the colors of the organization and the greek letters. for extra cost you can have it personalized with just about anything, i.e. chapter, nickname, year of graduation... it's a good idea since it will last a lifetime...

here's the link
http://cultura.midwesttradegroup.com/clase2001a.html

My mother got one made for me. ECU gets large yellow and purple ones made with all Greek letters on them, and I wasn't too impressed.

Mine is Green with white KD on one side and my name/class on the other. When my little graduates I will get her name and class on it and she will pass it down from there...

At my school we have a graduation fair every year and the people who sell invitations, rings, the fancy frames for your degree, and people who sell stoles all come sit in front of the book store and sell their wears. You can choose what color you want your stole to be and what color embroidery you want and everything it's not really a tradition to have them in our soror, but I know a few girls have over the years... I know I want one.. they are cool... I think we have different color tassels to denote what program your graudating from rather than using a collar or anything like that to tell the different departments apart... . :D

Re: I might get another stole instead
 

try http://www.primeheritage.com/graduation.htm

It's true. But I have met a gentleman from kentucky at the Association of Black Cultural Centers National Convention In Illinois last November. he own a Afro-centric store that has various African Items that included Black Greek Letter Stoles. I ask Him if he can create a stole with my fraternity Letters on it, even though my fraternity is a predominately white greek organization(yes, I'm African-American). It took a while but He email me last month and said the stole I requested was in. I'm planning to get two of those next week. If any of you are interested in asking about having a stole with your greek letters, let me know. I have the guy's business address and phone number at home.:D

clarification
 

Hi!

I just wanted to clarify the whole collar/stole/hood thing. :)


http://members.ispwest.com/navane/stolecollar.gif

In this picture, the gentleman on the left is wearing a dark-colored collar. It's a 'V' shaped piece of material which fits across the front of one's neck and falls down the back.

The young lady on the right is wearing a gold-colored stole. It is a very long 'U' shaped material which fits around the back of the neck and falls forward. These can be custom made in any color, and GLOs like to have them embroidered with letters. Some ethnic organizations, especially African-American orgs and GLOs, like to have the kente cloth (a woven african pattern) stoles.


http://members.ispwest.com/navane/gradhood.jpg

This is a picture of a couple of people in doctorate gowns. The gentleman on the left is wearing a hood. Master's candidates also wear hoods. Traditionally, the inside velvet and satin colors indicate the college from which the degree is granted (lt. blue for education, green for natural sciences and so on). Though it is now a bit stylized, you *can* pick up the upper portion and loft it over your head to make it a hood. (kinda like a monk).

At my university, California State University Long Beach, all bachelor's candidates wear regular black gowns and mortarboard caps. The color of the tassle worn indicates the college from which the degree is granted. Master's candidiates wear black Master's gowns (longer sleeves) with a hood with the lining color indicating the college. All master's candidates wear gold-colored tassles.

We don't offer doctorate degrees.

All students are allowed to wear stoles, honor cords (you know, ropes), medallions or whatever else they desire. Some students decorate their mortarboard caps with sayings such as "Hi Mom" or their greek letters. A couple people in my department had tinsle and other craft items glued on to theirs. My university is kinda liberal when it comes to graduation regalia. As long as its not obscene or a big distraction, it's ok by them as long as you have the proper gown, cap and tassle on. :)

Pardon me for the regalia lecture, higher education is my business. :) Also, credit given to harmonyonstage.com for the photographs.

......Kelly :)