Health and safety concerns have led to a university asking its graduating students not to indulge in the tradition of tossing their mortarboards into the air.
Anglia Ruskin University, which has campuses in Cambridge and Chelmsford, said throwing the graduation headwear could lead to injury if the corner of a mortarboard hit someone as it fell.
It could also cause damage to the hats, it said in its statement.
"This not only causes damage to the hats but it can also cause injury if the corner of the hat hits the graduand [graduating students] or others who may be nearby."
However Frankie Whiffen, Anglia Ruskin Students' Union president, said he could see the university's point of view but it was "health and safety gone mad".
Throwing mortarboards was part of the graduating experience, he suggested.
A university spokesperson told the Guardian that, if a student is hurt by a flying mortarboard, the incident will be covered under its public liability insurance.
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