Traditions Kept, Traditions Broken, Traditions that never got off the ground.
The peculiar mortarboard is as insecure as a flat 12- square-inch brick that totters on the slippery slope of a graduate's Pantene-slick hair. And the tabbed press-applied collar defies attachment to the cappa clausa (long, black gown), tweaking a graduate's strung-out nerves. But thousands of FSU graduates gladly struggle with the mandatory regalia each May and December to prepare for that moment of glory, when their names are called and they march across the stage that transforms them in a heartbeat from students to alumni. Pomp and its accompanying regalia have dictated the commencement rule of order since the 13th century when academia, emulating ecclesia, adopted the clerical dress of the era ­ caps, gowns and hoods ­ that served the practical function of providing warmth in drafty medieval cathedrals. True to the period, staid decorum was as much a given in academic institutions as in ecclesiastic.	Helmets Are History Oh, how times have changed. Tom Walsh, FSU commencement coordinator from 1972 to 1996, has seen his share of new commencement traditions. He remembers a student who wanted to forego the mortarboard in favor of his preferred headgear. "A guy came into the office one day and asked my secretary what I would do if he taped his tassel to his motorcycle helmet," said Walsh. "My secretary thought for a second and said, 'Knowing Mr. Walsh, he would prefer that you not make a spectacle of yourself. That would give you more attention than you deserve. But I think he would let the audience make the decision by their reaction.' The young man didn't wear the helmet.	But as the graduation ceremony at the football stadium was beginning, I heard this rumble of maybe 15 or 20 motorcycles going very slowly with the rumble getting louder and louder. I thought they were going to come into the stadium, but they just circled the field twice and took off. I felt pretty sure the incident was connected to the student who wanted to wear the motorcycle helmet at the ceremony." Flowers Start Feud Walsh tried something new on occasion at the ceremonies. One year he decided to give graduates' guests the flowers that decorated the stage for a December commencement after the ceremony. Cards for redeeming the poinsettias were arbitrarily given to parents.