It has taken a few years, but NCSU undergraduates will finally be wearing red this year at graduation.

Adam Compton, senior class president, emeritus, Jim Ceresnak, student body president, Jay Dawkins, senior class president, and Kelli Rogers, student senate president, sent a letter to Interim Chancellor James Woodward in fall 2009 requesting red caps and gowns for undergraduate graduation ceremonies.

“We’ve had black a long time,” Dawkins said.

According to Dawkins, the push for graduation red began almost three years ago at an Agri-life Council meeting where an attendee wondered aloud why NCSU students graduate in black.

Compton looked into it and found a set of example gowns to showcase at a president’s roundtable in 2008, Dawkins said. There was positive feedback from students and general excitement about the idea.

Other colleges wear their colors at graduation, Ceresnak said.

According to Ceresnak, students were polled online and there were campus surveys, all of which indicated students wanted to graduate in red.

There was very little negative feedback, Dawkins said. However, some students voiced fears that the red would clash with their skin color.

“I was skeptical at first. I wasn’t sure what it would look like en masse,” Vice Provost Louis Hunt said.

Prototypes were put on display in Talley Student Center and in the bookstore where students could view them.

However, students didn’t graduate in the new gowns last spring, despite the progress.

“The project was moved to the back burner because of changes in leadership,” Hunt said.

Ceresnak said he felt comfortable with presenting the idea of red caps and gowns to Woodward because of all the positive feedback the project had gotten previously.

“I got the project in its final stage,” Ceresnak said.

According to Hunt, the new caps and gowns will cost $3 more than the old black caps and gowns. The new honor sashes will be $2 more.

“It’s the beginning of a great tradition,” Ceresnak said.

The new gowns look like typical graduation gowns – lightweight, inexpensive fabric, big sleeves, zippered-front. On the left, over the heart, an N.C. State seal is embroidered in white.

Though none of the students interviewed ever saw the gowns on display for one reason or another, based on the description above, they seemed to be split evenly.

“The gowns will show a lot more school pride,” J.T. Hall, a sophomore in chemical engineering said.

“Sounds nice to me,” Jordan Fearrington, a freshman in civil engineering, said.

“I think it’s cool. I’m sure it looks a lot better [than the black gowns],” Samuel Amaning, a freshman in mechanical engineering, said.

“I like black personally,” Matt Schreiner, a freshman in computer science, said.

“Personally, I think everybody looks better in black,” Meaghan Lanier, a junior in English, said. “Black is more formal, but I like the seal idea.”

“It’s nice our gowns will be an official school color, but aesthetically I prefer the black,” Chris Geatz, a senior in communications, said.

“As the song goes, ‘We’re the red and white state.’ I can’t imagine graduation any other way,” Dawkins said.