There is a petition to get mortarboards back for graduation

A petition has been created demanding Leeds University graduates be allowed to wear mortarboards at graduation.

The petition has taken off suddenly in the past week and has now been signed 906 times, just 94 signatures under the target.

The creator of the petition, Joshua Steele-Gomes, claims Leeds University was previously a college which only allowed male graduates to wear mortarboards, and eventually this custom was abandoned entirely for both men and women.

Speaking to The Leeds Tab, Joshua explained why he feels so strongly about the return of mortarboards. He said: "Wearing mortarboards is known to be a tradition across many universities.

"I found out the reason [for mortarboards not being worn] from doing a lot of searching around the Union, such as speaking with the Executive Office, The Gryphon, and I was able to get in touch with the right people."

Joshua told The Leeds Tab he will be presenting this idea in front of the University forum on the 14th of May with hopes that they will approve the return of graduation hats.

Despite many believing the ban was due to health and safety reasons, as students throwing their hat in the air could cause injury, LUU has confirmed this was not the case.

Leeds University Press Office has since confirmed when the University was a college, a different type of hat to mortarboards was worn at graduation ceremonies.

The University of Leeds website similarly gives no reason for the absence of mortarboards. Students are told they can have a professional photo taken with a hat provided for the picture only.

Final year History student, Holly, told The Leeds Tab: “It seems like such an archaic practise not to have graduation hats simply because of an old sexist tradition.

"Times have changed and the University of Leeds needs to progress its policies! Bring back the grad hats!"

A similarly outraged Broadcast Journalism student said: "I did wonder why other university's graduates are all given graduate hats when Leeds aren't.

"The prospect that the hats may be down to a deeper meaning inherent in the history of the Uni is rather eye-opening. However, if that meaning has links to past misogyny, then it's very alarming that the University has not changed things".

You can sign Joshua's petition here.