A presidential symbol
The President’s collar symbolizes the office of the President of Boston University.

The President’s collar, which Robert Brown wore at his April 27 inauguration as Boston University’s 10th president, symbolizes the office of the University president. Similar collars were often worn in the Middle Ages as a badge of office. Designed in the 1980s by Arthur G. B. Metcalf (SED’35, Hon.’74), late chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, the collar is a chain built of repeating decorative links of entwined Bs and Us alternating with small Boston University seals. The seal of the University is suspended from it.