A few months ago, I went on a visit to Reed College in Portland, OR. Since this visit was to see a childhood friend for a few days at Reed and not so much to visit the school, I caught a different glimpse than your typical prospie on an overnighter. One of the first things that I realized was that the campus was georgous. The campus was fairly close together and littered with old buildings that hinted at rich stories long since forgotten. The entire campus was covered in a lush wealth of green and had a river running right through it. Despite being cloudy and kinda rainy while I was there (in february) it was pretty warm and sure beat being in Boston. Of note: no one uses umbrellas. Seriously. In recent years (and maybe long before), Reed has begun to convert and ulitize old houses on the property and in the surrounding area for campus use. It creates a very diverse atmosphere when it comes to campus buildings and dorms.
Indoors, the school was covered in graffiti but only (mainly) in approved places. Basically, Reed condones and encourages the use of graffiti to allow student to express themselves in spaces throughout the campus. Some rooms are covered from the floor to ceiling (sometimes including both) in writing, caveman paintings, drawings, and murals. Basically, the only rule is don’t put up anything that would cause any members of the community unnecessary harm or discomfort - a theme that Reed takes very seriously. At first a glance, the random writings seem like any other expressions empty of thought, but upon closer inspection, many of the words and phrases sprawled along the walls and other surfaces throughout the campus contain signs of deep thinking and intelligence not normally found on the wall of the men’s room.
While walking around with my friend, all of the people I met at Reed were warm and friendly - Reedies as they’re called. The first thing I noticed was none of the reedies dressed.. normally. Hipsters you might call them, though that label may be too constricting. Despite the electic fashion sense that hinted at being under/over medicated, I could tell that I was in the presence of thoughtful minds as each person I met spoke with an easy intelligence and broad understanding that is on the rare side at places like West Conn.
Since my friend had just finished her thesis, as is required of everyone from sociology majors to chemistry majors to graduate, she took me to the thesis tower to check out all the thesis of the students and show me hers. To get to the tower, we had to go through the main library (see photo below), where apparently talking is banned. Seriously.
While the library seemed like a good library it wasn’t nearly as impressive as some I’ve seen, but it did happen to have a great art exhibit right inside the doors that captivated my attention for sometime and I don’t even like student art. But, once in the thesis tower, it was obvious as to the caliber of the students that graduate from Reed based on the variety of works and examples of original thought (Andrew will probably argue with me on the idea of original thought, whatevs)
During my stay, I did get a chance to go off campus a bit and was shown the beautiful rhododendron garden just beyond the Reed campus. It was a sanctuary that rivaled nearly any I’ve seen at any school. Also of note was Otto’s Sausage Kitchen, a great reason not to be a vegetarian (which is a silly idea in the first place, seriously). I also got a chance to catch a bit of the Reed rugby team game. Confused as to which side was playing, I thought surely it was the second side, but found out that it was in fact the first string players on the pitch. Hey, they looked like they were trying and I bet they’d still beat Bard.
Even the president of Reed says that one of the first things that comes to mind when you think of Reed are drugs. (See the article I mentioned in a previous post). Well, from my brief experience, it seemed pretty true (though I missed out on Renn Fayre, so I really have no idea). The drug policy at Reed was definately “relaxed”. The student union had a slightly dank aroma and I was told that so long as you don’t blow smoke in their faces, most security guards just walk on by. This policy apparently extends to alcohol too. At one point during the visit, my friend and I were sipping on some forties in the student union looking over the room from some couches on a balcony of sorts when a security guard walked up the stairs. Having gone to a college that had a ‘wet’ campus, I was pretty sure the guard would just ask us for ID or to put the 40’s away. Instead, the guard just asked us how what we were doing for the rest of the night and told us that we “should really get some orange juice and turn those things into brass monkies”. Later that night, we saw the guard casually sipping on her own beverage in the pool hall. Well done, Reed.
Im done for now, but if I write anything else down, I throw up another post. My suggestion: if you decide to visit Reed on your own, give it a few days and immerse yourself in the student culture. Its a place you need to visit before you decide. Overall, I was impressed.
NPR has a great 
