School colors

The Blue and White (Mark Holden C '09)

Columbia's official School Colors are "Columbia Blue" and white. Both colors were originally drawn from the two literary societies that were at the heart of student life in the 19th century: Philolexian Blue, and Peithologian White.

History

The history of Blue and White dates back to 1852, when the Philolexian and Peithologian Societies cut back on their use of two colors each (Blue and Silver for Philo, White and Gold for Peitho) to one apiece. While the colors entered into general usage by students during the 19th century, they first came into prominent use by the school in 1873 "at the boat race in Springfield" according to Dean John Howard Van Amringe.

Attempts to define

"Columbia Blue" has been a hard color to pin down historically. A column in the February 1949 Columbia Alumni News lamented the lack of a designated color, and set about to investigate. The magazine noted that it used a shade of turquoise for its cover, that the University had adopted a shade called azure for the University Shield, and that on top of that "there are the variegated blues of programs, announcements, and invitations. There is no single Columbia blue."

The curator of Columbiana described the color as "the blue of the sky close to the horizon on a clear day," but confessed that "Oh, I just tear off the a piece of the cover of the University catalogue" when requesting the color from printers, and Columbia University Press' printing office simply stated that "why, we just ask for Columbia blue."

To this day there is no defined "Columbia Blue" across the University. The athletics department tried to settle the issue in 1999 when it redesigned the logo, declaring that Columbia Blue was Pantone 292. However, the Style Guide for Club Sports mandates that club sports teams use Pantone 291. Whether this is meant to distinguigh club teams from varsity teams, or a new definition of the color is unclear. Adding to the confusion, Columbia College has identified Pantone 290 as Columbia Blue in its Visual identity guide. In addition to these, the University has a range of blues registered at trademarx.com. It's worth noting that the range of Columbia Blue ranges from Cyan to Azure, to more subdued shades of Cornflower blue.

The Philolexian Society maintains to this day, in mock indignation, the position that the school colors are in fact stolen. In 1986, one member of the society wrote a letter to the President of the University demanding $1 million in restitution.

List of colors and uses

"Official" Versions of Columbia Blue

Color	Name	Source
	Columbia Blue	Columbia Blue as defined by the Columbia College Visual Identity Guide as PMS 290 (A6B7C8)
	Columbia Blue	Columbia Blue as defined by the Athletics Department in 1999 as PMS 292
	Columbia Light Blue	Columbia Light Blue as defined by the Athletics Department for Club Sports as PMS 291 (C: 27 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 0)

Other Versions of Columbia Blue

Color	Name	Source
	Columbia Blue 3	Registered by Columbia at trademarx.com
	Columbia Blue 2	Registered by Columbia at trademarx.com
		Blue used on Columbia.edu from 1999-2003
		Blue used on subpages of Columbia.edu from 1996-1999
	Columbia blue	Wikipedia's definition of Columbia Blue, derived from a gif of the University Shield