Academic dress of Durham University habit beneath their full-dress doctoral gown and hood. The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor were formerly directed to wear the Convocation Habit under their gold- and silver-laced gowns, "or Scarlet Habit if not holding a Doctorate". This latter usage is followed to this day, the Habit being sleeved like a cassock). Academic dress of Durham University The academic dress of Durham University has many similarities with that of other older British universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Most colleges of Durham University insist on gowns being worn on formal occasions, including matriculation and formal halls (dinners); exceptions are Van Mildert, St
St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Formal. Although the Bailey colleges are generally considered to be more traditional, St Cuthbert's Society generally employs a more informal approach; for example, unlike the other Bailey colleges its students no longer wear gowns except for congregation. The original seventh-century pectoral cross of St. Cuthbert was discovered when his grave was opened in 1827, and is now preserved in the cathedral treasury. The motto, "gratia gratiam parit", appears in the Adagia of Erasmus, a collection of Greek and Latin adages, and can be loosely translated as ‘friendship begets friendship’ or ‘kindness begets kindness’. The full coat of arms includes an