As of this academic year, all Doctoral Committee members will have to wear a gown during the doctoral ceremony in which a doctoral candidate defends their dissertation. Before this, only professors could do so. TU Delft is the only university in the Netherlands to make this ceremonial dress mandatory.
(Photo: Dalia Madi)
For Alejandro Aragón, when he came to the Netherlands it seemed strange to not be able to wear a gown in the first doctoral dissertation defences that he went through. At the university in America where he earned his doctorate, everyone wears gowns at ceremonies, from graduation onwards. As an Associate Professor – one level below full professorship – TU Delft did not allow him to wear one.
This will now change with the change in protocol this week. On Wednesday, Aragón could don the ceremonial dress for the first time when he took part in a TU Delft Doctoral Committee. It felt ‘very natural’ for him. “The times that I was not able to wear it felt strange. Like being downgraded.”
The Doctoral Committee made gowns mandatory for all members of the Doctoral Committee in doctoral dissertation defences on 1 September. Prior to this, only professors had the right to wear one. In fact, in contrast to all other universities in the Netherlands, the Committee members are now required to wear gowns. For the last few months, they may wear gowns at Utrecht University, the University of Leiden and the University of Amsterdam if they so wish.
The doctoral defence ceremony
At the end of their doctoral research, doctoral candidates defend their dissertations, the outcome of four years of research, in the doctoral defence ceremony. The ceremony is public and the Doctoral Committee will question the candidate about their research. After the ceremony, the Committee goes into recess to deliberate. The candidate, in the presence of friends, family and others, then hears if they will be awarded the title of doctor.
The Doctoral Committee always consists of a chair (the Rector Magnificus or a member of the Doctoral Examination Working Committee), the promotor, other promotors or co-promotors if relevant, and at least four independent members who were not involved in the compilation of the dissertation. Up to recently, only members with the title of professor were permitted to wear gowns, while now all members wear one.
The defence is a ceremonial event in which the beadle observes that the required academic rituals are upheld. These include appropriate ceremonial dress, statements in Latin, and standing up when the Chair rises.
The same role
As the Pro Vice Rector Magnificus for Doctoral Affairs, Bart van Arem is responsible for the rules concerning doctoral dissertation defences at TU Delft. He explains that the Board for Doctorates introduced the new policy to create unity. “The members of the Doctoral Committee are appointed by the Board for Doctorates to read the dissertation, evaluate it and ask questions during the defence. It does not matter if you are a professor, teacher or an external person. For the Board, everyone has the same role.
Arjen Jakobi, an Associate Professor, says that the candidates defending their dissertations agree. Like Aragón, he wore a gown at a TU Delft doctoral dissertation defence for the first time on Wednesday. Jakobi thinks that it is good that all the members of the Doctoral Committee now look the same. “For candidates, everyone in the committee has the same role.” A gown was not necessary for him. “Everyone wearing a suit would also have been good for me.”
But Van Arem believes that the gown really does make a difference. “The doctoral defence is an important point in which the candidate takes their place in academia. The ceremonial side demonstrates the value that TU Delft attaches to that moment.”
It was time
The rules about the gown had been a subject of discussion for at least a year when the Board for Doctorates decided on the new policy in March. Only a few people objected, says Van Arem. “Most professors said that it was high time!”
The Board drew inspiration from several sources, including The Young Academy. The organisation of young researchers has been fighting for less hierarchy and greater equality in the academic world for a while. In their Make everyone a professor! campaign in 2023, they stated that ‘Cosmetic differences are not innocuous’ and that ‘levelling off the hierarchy’ could help create a more socially safe environment.
Eddie Brummelman, Chair of the Young Academy, is happy with the decision. “It is absolutely an important stap. Equal obligations, equal rights.” He says that while gowns may be cosmetic, they do have a symbolic value. “If all the Committee members wear gowns, they communicate equality.”
Any objections
While TU Delft speaks of a mandatory rule, you actually need not adhere to the attire rule. But, says Van Arem, you then need to state this in advance and underpin it properly. Brummelman believes that it is good that this is an option. “Some Committee members may prefer not to wear gowns, such as if they believe it conceals other forms of inequality.”
Brummelman is referring to the differences in doctoral dissertation defence rights. While associate professors have had the legal right to award the title of doctor to PhD candidates since 2017, this does not apply to assistant professors. As Committee members, the latter have the same obligations as associate professors and professors in terms of supervising PhD candidates and evaluating their work, but they may only act as co-promotors. They sometimes actually do the lion’s share of the work, emphasises Brummelman. Nevertheless, Van Arem does not think that they will get doctoral dissertation defence rights soon. “We want promotors to have a certain amount of experience.”
If it were up to the Young Academy, it would go beyond further expanding the doctoral dissertation defence right. They argue for all university teachers and associate professors to call themselves professors. Brummelman believes that the new policy on gowns shows that this is perfectly possible. “It makes other forms of inequality less automatic. If all Committee members may wear gowns, why do they not all have the same doctoral dissertation defence right or the right to bear the title of professor?”
Gowns on loan
While it has been common practice for professors to pay more than a thousand euros for the gowns themselves, TU Delft has now purchased a string of gowns to lend out. They are hanging on a rack in the gown room so that Committee members can find one that fits before a doctoral defence. They do not have to worry about comfort, says Associate Professor Arjen Jakobi. “They are just like big bags.” However, Van Arem, who is a full professor and has his own, can think of a disadvantage. “You have to take care going up and down stairs.”
What is the situation at other universities?
TU Delft is the fourth university to permit gowns for the whole Doctoral Committee. Utrecht University was the first to permit this last year. At the beginning of 2024 the University of Amsterdam and the University of Leiden followed suit. But none of these universities has made this dress code mandatory. Most institutions, such as the Technical Universities of Eindhoven, Enschede and Wageningen, are continuing their current dress code in which only full professors wear gowns.
Some other universities, such as the University of Groningen (RUG) and the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) make the right to wear a gown subject to the role of the promotor. At the RUG, only associate professors may be promotors, and they may only wear a gown if they are the first promotor. At the VU, a gown is not permitted for associate professors that are co-promotors but are permitted for associate professors that are promotors – in which position does not matter.
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