Decorated Mortarboards

Submission 3,545

About

Decorated Mortarboards refer to graduation caps with decorated with student-customized images and messages which often reference memes.

Pre-Internet History

The modern graduation caps were developed in the 15th century inspired by birettas which were used by clergymen.^[1] According to folklore expert Sheila Bock, caps began being decorated in the 1960s with peace signs to protest the Vietnam War (shown below).^[3]

Online History

Some of the earliest conversations had on cap decorations online have been started Twitter. On April 26th, 2017, Twitter user @couch^[6] tweeted, "my friend says I should put kthxbye on my graduation cap" (shown below). Internet users began showing off their cap decorations a little later as Instagram became popular.

On May 11th, 2014, Instagram user beejayart^[7] posted a picture of their cap featuring doge which gained 60 likes in five years (shown below, left). Featuring memes on graduation caps began in 2014. On May 14th, Instagram user marilynonmars^[8] posted a grumpy cat cap (shown below, right).

Reception

Many colleges and high schools do not permit the use of decorated caps during graduation ceremonies as they are said to be a distraction. Some students have started petitions to allow caps to be decorated.^[11]

Impact

A professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Sheila Bock, has begun to research and document mortarboard decoration within the colleges folklore department.^[2] She is cited as saying that decorating caps is "a way of kind of disrupting the formality of the occasion and taking control of the ceremony back in small ways."^[5]

Fandom

As of May 2019, there are over 144,000 posts linked to the hashtag #graduationcap on Instagram and hundreds of boards dedicated to decorating mortarboards on Pinterest.^[12]

#Immigrad

In May of 2017 the hashtag #immigrad became linked to graduation cap decorations as a a sign of pride for first generation graduates of immigrant parents.^[4] On May 6th, Instagram user undocumedia^[9] posted a photo to Instagram of a cap linked to the hashtag (shown below, left). The photo gained over 16,900 likes in two years. On May 10th, another graduate, Twitter user MabeAlcivar^[10]posted a photo in dedication to their immigrant parents (shown below right).