Reed College

File:Eliot-hall-in-snow.jpg on a snowy day]]

The Reed Institute (the legal name of the college) was founded in 1908 and held its first classes in 1911. Reed is named for Oregon pioneers Simeon Gannett Reed (1830–1895) and Amanda Reed (died 1904).{{cite web |url=http://web.reed.edu/about_reed/history |title=Mission and History |access-date=December 18, 2007 |work=About Reed |publisher=Reed College}} Simeon was an entrepreneur involved in several enterprises, including trade on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers with his close friend and associate, former Portland Mayor William S. Ladd. Unitarian minister Thomas Lamb Eliot, who knew the Reeds from the church choir, is credited with convincing Reed of the need for the school.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/march2011/articles/features/dream/amandas_dream3.html|title=Fighting for Amanda's Dream|date=March 2011|website=Reed Magazine|access-date=2016-03-08}} Reed's will provided for the gift,{{cite web |last1=Ingham |first1=Jennifer |last2=Brunette |first2=Sally |last3=Lassleben |first3=Lauren |title=Timeline of Reed College Events (to 1959) |url=https://alumni.reed.edu/oral_hist_timeline.html |website=alumni.reed.edu |publisher=REED College |access-date=3 October 2018 |date=2004}} and Ladd's son, William Mead Ladd, donated 40 acres from the Ladd Estate Company to build the new college.{{cite web |last1=Colver |first1=MaryLou |title=Ladd Estate Company |url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/ladd_estate_company/#.W7UAFBNKii4 |website=The Oregon Encyclopedia |publisher=Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society | date=17 March 2018|access-date=3 October 2018}}{{cite web|url= http://web.reed.edu/alumni/oral_hist_timeline.html |title= Retrieved on 19 December 2007 |publisher=Web.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}}{{cite journal |url=https://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/sallyportal/posts/2011/parker-house-featured-on-holiday-tour.html |last1=Barton |first1=Randall S. |title=Parker House Featured on Holiday Tour |journal=Reed Magazine |date=June 2017 |volume=96 |issue=2 |access-date=3 October 2018}} Reed's first president (1910–1919) was William Trufant Foster, a former professor at Bates College and Bowdoin College.

Reed was founded explicitly as a reaction against the "prevailing model of East Coast, Ivy League education", its lack of varsity athletics, fraternities, and exclusive social clubs – as well as its coeducational, nonsectarian, and egalitarian status – intended to foster an intensely academic and intellectual college.{{cite book |title=The Hidden Ivies |last=Greene |first=Howard |author2= Matthew Greene |year=2000 |publisher= HarperCollins Publishers Inc. |location=New York |isbn= 0-06-095362-4 |pages= 206–207}}

During the 1930s, President Dexter Keezer was concerned about the fraternization among male and female students and the consumption of alcohol by students. A large portion of the Student Council took the position that Oregon's liquor laws did not apply to Reed's campus. Policies restricting the ability of students from visiting the dormitories of the opposite sex were fiercely resisted.{{cite book |last1=Sheehy |first1=John |title=Comrades of the Quest |date=2012 |publisher=Oregon State University Press |location=Corvallis, Oregon |isbn=978-0-87071-667-6}}

After World War II the college saw its enrollment numbers dramatically increase as veterans began enrolling in the college.{{Cite web|title=Reed College|url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/reed_college/#.YFU0otqSmUk|access-date=2021-03-19|website=www.oregonencyclopedia.org}}

The college has developed a reputation for the political progressivism of its student body.{{Cite web |title=Most Liberal Colleges {{!}} The Princeton Review |url=https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=most-liberal-students |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.princetonreview.com |language=en}}

File:HauserInterior.jpg]]

According to sociologist Burton Clark, Reed is one of the most unusual institutions of higher learning in the United States,{{cite book | first = Burton | last = Clark | title= The Distinctive College: Antioch, Reed, Swarthmore | year =1964 | isbn=1-56000-592-0 | publisher = Transaction Publishers | location = New Brunswick, N.J. }} featuring a traditional liberal arts and natural sciences curriculum. It requires freshmen to take Humanities 110, an intensive introduction to multidisciplinary inquiry, covering ancient Greece and Rome, the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish history, and as of 2019, Ancient Mesoamerica and the Harlem Renaissance.{{cite web|url=https://www.reed.edu/humanities/hum110/index.html|title=Reed College {{!}} Humanities 110 {{!}} Home|website=www.reed.edu|access-date=2019-09-27}} Reed also has a TRIGA research reactor on campus, making it the only school in the United States to have a nuclear reactor operated primarily by undergraduates.{{cite web | title = Reed Research Reactor | publisher = Reed College | url = http://reactor.reed.edu/ | access-date = March 27, 2007}} Reed also requires all students to complete a thesis (a two-semester-long research project conducted under the guidance of professors) during the senior year as a prerequisite of graduation. Upon completion of the senior thesis, students must also pass an oral defense of ninety minutes related to the thesis topic and how the thesis relates to the larger context of the student's studies.

Reed maintains a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio.{{cite web|url=https://www.reed.edu/ir/stufacratio.html|title=Reed College Student/Faculty Ratio|publisher=Reed College|access-date=July 9, 2017}}

File:Cerenkov Effect.jpg at Reed's research reactor]]

Although letter grades are given to students, grades are de-emphasized at Reed and focus is placed on a narrative evaluation. According to the school, "a conventional letter grade for each course is recorded for every student, but the registrar's office does not distribute grades to students, provided that work continues at satisfactory (C or higher) levels. Unsatisfactory grades are reported directly to the student and the student's adviser. Papers and exams are generally returned to students with lengthy comments but without grades affixed." Students can request copies of their official transcript from the registrar. There is no dean's list or honor roll per se, but students who maintain a GPA of 3.5 or above for an academic year receive academic commendations at the end of the spring semester which are noted on their transcripts.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/acad_pol/eval_student.html |title=Reed College | Guidebook | Evaluation of students |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=June 7, 2014}} Many Reed students graduate without knowing their cumulative GPA or their grades in individual classes.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} Reed is singled out as having little to no grade inflation over the years;{{Cite web |title=National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities |url=https://www.gradeinflation.com/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=www.gradeinflation.com}} only ten students graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA in the period from 1983 to 2012.{{cite web | title = Grades at Reed | publisher = Reed College | url = http://www.reed.edu/registrar/pdfs/grades.pdf | access-date = July 29, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140330195527/http://www.reed.edu/registrar/pdfs/grades.pdf | archive-date = March 30, 2014 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }} (Transcripts are accompanied by a card contextualizing Reed's grading approach so as not to penalize students' graduate school applications.){{cite web|url=http://ruk.ca/article/4794 |title=Retrieved on 13 September 2008 |publisher=Ruk.ca |date=May 28, 2008 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708195245/http://ruk.ca/article/4794 |archive-date=July 8, 2009 }} Although Reed does not award Latin honors to graduates, it confers several awards for academic achievement at commencement, including naming students to Phi Beta Kappa.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/acad_pol/awards.html |title=Reed College | Guidebook to Reed | Awards, fellowships and graduate awards |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}}

Reed has no fraternities or sororities and few NCAA sports teamsOne NCAA sports team at Reed has been the Reed College Ski Team, which as early as 1937, and as late as 1988, competed with the University of Oregon and other regional schools. See [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19371214&id=aI8RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bOgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5792,1017855 "Oregon Ski Team to meet Huskies", Eugene Register-Guard, December 14, 1937] although physical education classes (which range from kayaking to juggling to capoeira) are required for graduation. Reed also has several intercollegiate athletic clubs, notably the basketball,{{Cite web|url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2019/march-madness-zornado-classic.html|title=Young Alumni Drub Olds in Zornado Classic|first=Ethan|last=Gordon ’19|website=Reed Magazine}} rugby,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/men_rugby.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216062603/http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/men_rugby.html|url-status=dead|title=Reed rugby teams|archive-date=December 16, 2012}} Ultimate Frisbee,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/mens_ultimate_frisbee.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109000406/http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/mens_ultimate_frisbee.html|url-status=dead|title=Men's ultimate frisbee|archive-date=January 9, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/womens_ultimate_frisbee.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109000726/http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/womens_ultimate_frisbee.html|url-status=dead|title=Women's ultimate frisbee|archive-date=January 9, 2013}} and soccer{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/mens_soccer.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108172006/http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/sports_clubs/mens_soccer.html|url-status=dead|title=Soccer|archive-date=November 8, 2012}} teams.

Reed categorizes its academic program into five Divisions and the Humanities program. Overall, Reed offers five Humanities courses, twenty-six department majors, twelve interdisciplinary majors, six dual-degree programs with other colleges and universities, and programs for pre-medical and pre-veterinary students. Its three most popular majors, based on 2023 graduates, were Psychology, Biology/Biological Sciences, and Computer and Information Sciences.{{cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=reed&s=all&id=209922#programs |website=nces.ed.gov |publisher=U.S. Dept of Education |title=Reed College |access-date=August 21, 2024}}

File:Reed College quad and Paradox at sunset 7 June 2006.jpg

• Division of Arts: includes the Art (Art History and Studio Art), Dance, Music, and Theatre Departments;
• Division of History and Social Sciences: includes the History, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology Departments, as well as the International and Comparative Policy Studies Program;
• Division of Literature and Languages: includes the Classics, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish Departments, as well as the Creative Writing and General Literature Programs;
• Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences: includes the Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Departments, and
• Division of Philosophy, Religion, Psychology, and Linguistics: includes the Philosophy, Religion, Psychology, and Linguistics Departments.

Reed President Richard Scholz in 1922 called the educational program as a whole "an honest effort to disregard old historic rivalries and hostilities between the sciences and the arts, between professional and cultural subjects, and,{{nbsp}}... the formal chronological cleavage between the graduate and the undergraduate attitude of mind".Scholz, Richard F., "Remarks to the Association of American Colleges", 1922. The Humanities program, which came into being in 1943 (as the union of two year-long courses, one in "world" literature, the other in "world" history) is one manifestation of this effort. One change to the program was the addition of a course in Chinese Civilization in 1995. The faculty has also recently approved several significant changes to the introductory syllabus. These changes include expanding the parameters of the course to include more material regarding urban and cultural environments.{{cite web|url=http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/Hum110/syllabus/syllabus-preview-2010-13.html |title=Humanities 110, Syllabus for 2010–2013 |publisher=Academic.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926205916/http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/Hum110/syllabus/syllabus-preview-2010-13.html |archive-date=September 26, 2011 }}

Reed's Humanities program includes the mandatory freshman course Introduction to Western Humanities covering ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, art, religion, and philosophy. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors may take Early Modern Europe covering Renaissance thought and literature; Modern Humanities covering the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and Modernism, and/or Foundations of Chinese Civilization. There is also a Humanities Senior Symposium.{{cite web |title=Humanities 411 |url=https://www.reed.edu/humanities/hum411/index.html |website=reed.edu |access-date=19 January 2021}}

Reed also offers interdisciplinary programs in American studies,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/amstudies.html |title=American Studies |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Environmental Studies,{{cite web|url=http://academic.reed.edu/es/ |title=Environmental Studies Interdisciplinary Major |publisher=Academic.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/biochem.html |title=Biochem & Molec Bio interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Chemistry-Physics,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/chemphys.html |title=Chem-Physics interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Classics-Religion,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/clasrel.html |title=Classics-Religion Interdisciplinary Major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Dance/Theatre,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/dancethea.html |title=Dance-Theatre Interdisciplinary Major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} History-Literature,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/histlit.html |title=History-Lit interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} International and Comparative Policy Studies (ICPS),{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/icps.html |title=Internat-Compar Policy Studies |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Literature-Theatre,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/litthea.html |title=Lit-Theater interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Mathematics-Economics,{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/mathecon.html |title=Math-Econ interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} and Mathematics-Physics.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/catalog/programs/interdis_majors/mathphys.html |title=Math-Physics interdisc major |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}}

Reed offers dual-degree programs in Computer Science (with University of Washington), Engineering (with Caltech, Columbia University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Forestry or Environmental Management (with Duke University), and Fine Art (with the Pacific Northwest College of Art).{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/apply/academics/is_dd_div.html#dual |title=Dual degree program info |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031055405/http://www.reed.edu/apply/academics/is_dd_div.html#dual |archive-date=October 31, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

{{See also|Criticism of college and university rankings (North America)}}

{{Infobox US university ranking

| Forbes = 105

| THE_WSJ = 75

| USNWR_LA = 63

| Wamo_LA = 78

}}

In 1995, Reed College refused to participate in the U.S. News & World Report "best colleges" rankings, making it the first educational institution in the United States to refuse to participate in college rankings. According to Reed's Office of Admissions the school's refusal to participate is based in 1994 disclosures by The Wall Street Journal about institutions flagrantly manipulating data in order to move up in the rankings in U.S. News and other popular college guides.{{cite web |url=https://www.reed.edu/apply/college-rankings.htm |title=Reed and the Rankings Game |last=Lydgate |first=Chris |publisher=Reed College |date=September 12, 2018}} U.S. News maintains that their rankings are "a very legitimate tool for getting at a certain level of knowledge about colleges."{{citation|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601839,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123153415/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601839,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 23, 2007|newspaper=Time|date=March 21, 2001|last=Rawe|first=Julie|title=The College Rankings Revolt}} In 2019, a team of statistics students recreated the formula used by U.S. News and were able to identify and quantify the penalty imposed on Reed. The students found the college to be ranked an estimated 52 places below an unbiased application of the U.S. News scoring rubric.{{cite web|url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2019/usnews-discrepancy.html|title=Students Find Glaring Discrepancy in US News Rankings|website=Reed Magazine|language=en-us|access-date=2019-09-27}}

Money magazine ranked Reed 512th in the U.S. out of 623 schools evaluated for its 2022 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition.{{Cite web |title=The Best Colleges in America of 2022 by Money |url=https://money.com/best-colleges/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Money}}

Reed is ranked as tied for the 63rd best liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report in its 2025 rankings, and tied for 23rd in "Best Undergraduate Teaching", tied for 23rd in "Most Innovative Schools", and tied for 174th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility".{{cite web |title=Reed College Rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/reed-college-3217/overall-rankings |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=U.S. News & World Report}}

In 2006, Newsweek magazine named Reed as one of twenty-five "New Ivies",{{cite journal |author1=Kantrowitz, Barbara |author2=Springen, Karen | title = America's 25 New Elite 'Ivies' | journal = Newsweek | url = http://www.newsweek.com/2006/08/20/25-new-ivies.html |date=August 21, 2006 }} listing it among "the nation's elite colleges". In 2012, Newsweek ranked Reed the 15th "most rigorous" college in the nation.{{cite web|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2012/08/05/college-rankings-2012-most-rigorous-schools-photos.html#slide12|title=College Rankings 2012: Most Rigorous Schools|work=Daily Beast|access-date=July 29, 2013}}

Reed College ranked in the bottom 6% of four year colleges nationwide in the Brookings Institution's rating of U.S. colleges by incremental impact on alumni earnings 10 years post-enrollment.{{cite web |url=http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports2/2015/10/29-earnings-data-college-scorecard-rothwell |title=Using earnings data to rank colleges: A value-added approach updated with College Scorecard data | Brookings Institution |date=October 29, 2015 }}

An episode of Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History examines the flaws in the U.S. News system of university rankings.{{Cite web|date=2021-07-01|title=Lord of the Rankings - Pushkin|url=https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/lord-of-the-rankings/|access-date=2021-11-29|website=www.pushkin.fm|language=en-US}} The episode features a project done by a Reed professor of statistics and her students to investigate the mechanics of the ranking algorithm, attempting to see if Reed's ranking had been purposefully devalued because the school refused to submit its information to U.S. News.{{Citation|last=huayingq1996|title=A True Lie about Reed College: U.S News Ranking|date=2021-09-23|url=https://github.com/huayingq1996/Reed-College-Ranking|access-date=2021-11-29}} Previous investigations by Reed students to re-create U.S. News's statistical ranking algorithm found that Reed's correct 2019 rank was #38 instead of its assigned rank of #90.{{Cite web |title=Students Find Glaring Discrepancy in US News Rankings |url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2019/usnews-discrepancy.html |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Reed Magazine |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |last=Krug |first=Kris |title=The Ominous Cracks in the US News College Ranking System |url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2021/rankings-gladwell-usnews.html |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Reed Magazine |language=en-us}}

File:EliotHallReedCollege.jpg in 2007]]

The entering class in 2024 was drawn from 9,023 applicants, with 2321 accepted, and 303 students admitted.{{Cite web |title=Admission Statistics - Institutional Research - Reed College |url=https://www.reed.edu/ir/admission.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=www.reed.edu}} Median SAT scores were 690 math and 730 reading. Since 2018, to increase student enrollment from historically underrepresented minorities, Reed encourages application to the college's "Discover Reed Fly-In Program", an all-inclusive, all-expenses-paid, multi-day campus tour and open to all high school seniors who are US citizens or permanent residents, regardless of race or ethnicity.{{cite web|url=https://apply.reed.edu/register/discover-reed-fly-in-application|title=Discover Reed Fly-In Application|website=Reed College|access-date=2021-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509202946/https://apply.reed.edu/register/discover-reed-fly-in-application|date=2018|archive-date=2019-05-09}}

The total direct cost for the 2022–23 academic year, including tuition, fees and room-and-board, was $80,710.{{Cite web |title=Costs & Financial Aid - Admission - Reed College |url=https://www.reed.edu/apply/costs.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=www.reed.edu}} Indirect costs (books, supplies, transportation, personal expenses) could be another $3,950.{{cite web |last1=College |first1=Reed |title=Reed College {{!}} Admission {{!}} Costs & Financial Aid |url=http://www.reed.edu/apply/costs.html |access-date=14 April 2018 |website=www.reed.edu |language=en-us}} For the 2022–23 academic year, the average financial aid package was $52,284. In 2022–23 over half of students received financial aid from the college. In 2004, 1.4% of Reed graduates defaulted on their student loans{{cite web|title=Official Cohort Default Rate |work=U.S. Department of Education |url=http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/COHORT/cohortdata_detail.cfm?Record_ID=4293&record=1&TOTAL_REC=1 |access-date=April 11, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716145707/http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/COHORT/cohortdata_detail.cfm?Record_ID=4293&record=1&TOTAL_REC=1 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 }} – below the national Cohort Default Rate average of 5.1%.{{cite web | title = Cohort Default Rates for Schools | publisher = U.S. Department of Education | url = http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/defaultmanagement/cdr.html | access-date = April 11, 2007}}

Reed's endowment as of June 30, 2023, was $764 million.As of June 30, 2023. {{cite report |title = Reed College Endowment 2023 Report |url=https://www.reed.edu/investments/assets/downloads/endowment-public-report-fy-2023.pdf}} In the economic downturn that began in late 2007, Reed's total endowment had declined from $455 million in June 2007 to $311 million in June 2009.Matthew Kish, "Reed College endowment begins to recover", Portland Business Journal, [http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2011/05/27/reed-college-endowment-begins-to-recover.html?page=all May 27, 2011]. By the end of 2013, however, the endowment surpassed the $500 million mark.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2013/11/20/reed-college-endowment-above-500-million.html |url-status=live |archive-date=Dec 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201120804/http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2013/11/20/reed-college-endowment-above-500-million.html |first=Matthew |last=Kish |title=Reed College endowment bounces back, climbs above $500 million |date=Nov 20, 2013 |website=www.bizjournals.com |language=en |access-date=21 August 2023}}

Reed has produced the second-highest number of Rhodes scholars for any liberal arts college—32—as well as over one hundred Fulbright Scholars, over seventy Watson Fellows, and three MacArthur ("Genius") Award winners.{{cite magazine |title=A Thinking Reed |magazine=Time | date =December 28, 1962 |volume=80 |issue=26 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827962,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120072220/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827962,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 20, 2008 |access-date= December 18, 2007}} A very high proportion of Reed graduates go on to earn PhDs, particularly in the natural sciences, history, political science, and philosophy. Reed is ranked third in the percentage of graduates who go on to earn PhDs in all disciplines, after only Caltech and Harvey Mudd. In 1961, Scientific American declared that second only to Caltech, "This small college in Oregon has been far and away more productive of future scientists than any other institution in the U.S."{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/news_center/press_releases/2002-2003/489.html |title=NSF Fellowships Go to Reed Senior and Recent Graduates |access-date=December 18, 2007 |year=2002–2003 |work=Press Release |publisher=Reed College}}{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Chris |date=October 2001 |title=News you can abuse |journal=The University of Chicago Magazine |volume=94 |issue=1 |url= http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0110/features/abuse.html}} Reed is ranked first in producing PhDs in biology, second in chemistry and humanities, third in history, foreign languages, and political science, fourth in science and mathematics, fifth in physics and social sciences, sixth in anthropology, seventh in area and ethnic studies and linguistics, and eighth in English literature and medicine.

Reed's debating team was awarded the first place sweepstakes trophy for Division II schools at the final tournament of the Northwest Forensics Conference in February 2004.{{cite web |last1=College |first1=Reed |title=Reed College - Institutional Research {{!}} Distinctions |url=https://www.reed.edu/ir/distinctions.html |website=www.reed.edu |access-date=1 October 2018 |language=en-us}}

Loren Pope, former education editor for The New York Times, writes about Reed in Colleges That Change Lives, saying, "If you're a genuine intellectual, love the life of the mind, and want to learn for the sake of learning, the place most likely to empower you is not Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, or Stanford. It is the most intellectual college in the country — Reed in Portland, Oregon."{{cite book | last = Pope | first = Loren | title = Colleges That Change Lives | publisher = Penguin Books |date=July 2006 | page = [https://archive.org/details/collegesthatchan00pope_0/page/354 354] | isbn = 0-14-303736-6| title-link = Colleges That Change Lives }}

Since the 1960s, Reed has had a reputation for tolerating open drug use among its students.{{cite news | title = Rogue of the Week |work = Willamette Week | date = April 24, 2002 | url= http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-955-the_federal_bureau_of_investigation.html}} The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, written by the staff of Yale Daily News, notes an impression among students of institutional permissiveness: "According to students, the school does not bust students for drug or alcohol use unless they cause harm or embarrassment to another student."{{cite book |title=The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2006 |author=Yale Daily News staff |edition=32nd |date=July 16, 2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn= 0-312-34157-1 |page=771}}

In April 2008, student Alex Lluch died of a heroin overdose in his on-campus dorm room.{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1207621554181530.xml&coll=7|title=Death on campus stuns Reed|last=Bernstein|first=Maxine|date=April 8, 2008|access-date=September 22, 2008|work=The Oregonian}} His death prompted revelations of several previous incidents, including the near-death heroin overdose of another student only months earlier.{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/susan_nielsen/index.ssf?/base/editorial/120796171467460.xml&coll=7|title=Drugs on Campus|last=Nielsen|first=Susan|date=April 13, 2008|work=The Oregonian|access-date=September 22, 2008}} College President Colin Diver said "I don't honestly know" whether the drug death was an isolated incident or part of a larger problem. "When you say Reed," Diver said, "two words often come to mind. One is brains. One is drugs."{{cite news|last=Pitkin|first=James|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-9009-higher_ed.html|title=Higher Ed|date=May 14, 2008|newspaper=Willamette Week|access-date=January 2, 2013}} Local reporter James Pitkin of the newspaper Willamette Week editorialized that "Reed College, a private school with one of the most prestigious academic programs in the U.S., is one of the last schools in the country where students enjoy almost unlimited freedom to experiment openly with drugs, with little or no hassles from authorities", though Willamette Week stated the following week concerning Pitkin's editorial: "As of press time, almost 500 responses, many expressing harsh criticism of Willamette Week, had been posted on our website."{{cite news|title=Inbox|date=May 21, 2008|newspaper=Willamette Week|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-9031-inbox.html|access-date=January 2, 2013}}

In March 2010, another student died of drug-related causes in his off-campus residence.{{cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/reed_college_rattled_by_second.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Reed College rattled by second student death this month | date=March 23, 2010}} This led The New York Times to conclude that "Reed{{nbsp}}... has long been known almost as much for its unusually permissive atmosphere as for its impressively rigorous academics." Law enforcement authorities promised to take action, including sending undercover agents to Reed's annual Renn Fayre celebration.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/education/27reed.html |title=Reed College's President Is Told to Crack Down on Campus Drug Use|work= The New York Times|date= April 27, 2010|access-date=July 29, 2013}}[http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/04/college-threatened-with-crack-house-law.html "College Threatened With ‘Crack House’ Law"], Newsweek, May 4, 2010

In February 2012, the Reed administration chose to call the police following the discovery of "two to three pounds of marijuana and a small amount of ecstasy and LSD in the on-campus apartment of two juniors."{{Cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/02/arrest_of_reed_students_on_mar.html|title=Arrest of Reed students on marijuana charges stirs campus debate|work=OregonLive.com|access-date=2018-04-14|language=en-US}} Following campus debate, Reed's president at the time, Colin Diver, issued a letter to students and staff, saying the college would not tolerate illegal drug use on campus: "Such behavior endangers the health and welfare of the entire community, attracts potentially dangerous criminal activity on campus, undermines the academic mission of the college, and violates the college's obligations under state and federal law."

Reed has a reputation for being politically left-of-center.

During the McCarthy era of the 1950s, then-President Duncan Ballantine fired Marxist philosopher Stanley Moore, a tenured professor, for his failure to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigation.{{cite web | author= Schrecker, Ellen | title= Political Tests for Professors: Academic Freedom during the McCarthy Years | work=The University Loyalty Oath | date= October 7, 1999 | url=http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/loyaltyoath/symposium/schrecker.html | access-date=April 9, 2006}}{{cite web | title = History of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest | publisher = Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington | url = http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2023/23.html }} According to an article in the college's alumni magazine, "because of the decisive support expressed by Reed's faculty, students, and alumni for the three besieged teachers and for the principle of academic freedom, Reed College's experience with McCarthyism stands apart from that of most other American colleges and universities. Elsewhere in the academic world both tenured and nontenured professors with alleged or admitted communist party ties were fired with relatively little fuss or protest. At Reed, however, opposition to the political interrogations of the teachers was so strong that some believed the campus was in danger of closure."{{cite news | last=Harmon | first=Rick | title=In the eye of the storm | work=Reed Magazine | date=August 1997 | url= http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug1997/index.html | access-date=February 7, 2007 }} A statement of "regret" by the Reed administration and Board of Trustees was published in 1981, formally revising the judgment of the 1954 trustees. In 1993, then-President Steve Koblik invited Moore to visit the college, and in 1995 the last surviving member of the Board that fired Moore expressed his regret and apologized to him.{{cite news | author=Munk, Michael | title=Oregon Tests Academic Freedom in (Cold) Wartime: The Reed College Trustees versus Stanley Moore | work=The Oregon Historical Quarterly | year=1996 }}

On September 26, 2016, students organized a boycott of all college operations in participation with the National Day of Boycott, a national day of protest which was proposed by actor Isaiah Washington on Twitter in response to the issue of police brutality against African-Americans.{{cite news|title=Students hold demonstration on Reed College campus for 'National Day of Boycott'|url=http://katu.com/news/local/students-hold-demonstration-on-reed-college-campus-for-national-day-of-boycott|access-date=24 April 2018|agency=KATU2|date=26 September 2016}} Following the boycott, students created an activist group called Reedies Against Racism (RAR) and presented a list of demands for the college purportedly on behalf of students from marginalized backgrounds. The primary demand concerned Reed's mandatory freshman Humanities course, proposing that the course either be changed to be more inclusive of world literature and classics or to be made not mandatory. One element of the class deemed racist by the protestors was the use of the 1978 Steve Martin song "King Tut" in a discussion about cultural appropriation.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/11/the-surprising-revolt-at-reed/544682/|title=The surprising revolt at the most liberal college in the country|first=Chris|last=Bodenner|magazine=The Atlantic|date=2017-11-02|access-date=2017-12-01}} Students began a protest campaign against the curriculum by sitting in during lectures with signs with quotations from various African-American and non-white academics.{{cite news|last1=Shepherd|first1=Katie|title=What Do Protesting Students At Reed College Want?|url=http://www.wweek.com/news/schools/2017/11/08/what-do-protesting-students-at-reed-college-want/|access-date=24 April 2018|agency=Willamette Week|newspaper=Willamette Week|date=8 November 2017}} Other protests separate from the Humanities course also included efforts to shout down speakers, including Kimberly Peirce after she was accused of profiting from transphobia while making the film Boys Don't Cry.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21728688-reed-college-oregon-shows-left-v-left-clashes-can-be-equally-vitriolic-arguments|title=Arguments over free speech on campus are not left v right|newspaper=The Economist|date=2017-09-07|access-date=2017-12-01}} The group eventually focused on Reed's banking relationship with Wells Fargo, based on allegations that the bank had invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline project and the private prison industry, and staged an occupation of Reed's Eliot Hall.{{cite news|last1=Acker|first1=Lizzy|title=Reed students have been camped out in the president's office for 9 days|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/10/reed_students_have_been_camped.html|access-date=24 April 2018|agency=Oregon Live|publisher=Oregon Live LLC|date=31 October 2017}}

There was some opposition to the lecture protests, notably by Reed professor of English Lucía Martínez Valdivia, who stated that a protest during her lecture on Sappho would amplify her pre-existing case of PTSD.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/professors-like-me-cant-stay-silent-about-this-extremist-moment-on-campuses/2017/10/27/fd7aded2-b9b0-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html|title=Professors like me can't stay silent about this extremist moment on campus|author=Lucía Martínez Valdivia|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2017-10-27|access-date=2017-12-01}} In November 2017, Chris Bodenner of The Atlantic wrote about growing student resentment toward the tactics of RAR. In response to protests the faculty decided to undergo the decennial review process a year early, as well as to complete the process in three months instead of the usual year. In January 2018, Humanities 110 Chair professor Libby Drumm announced in a campus-wide email that the course curriculum would be restructured after years of faculty discussion and in response to student feedback as well as input from an external review committee composed of humanities faculty from other institutes, adopting a "four-module structure" that would include texts from the Americas and allow greater flexibility in the curriculum which would be integrated beginning fall 2018. The external review had not in fact been completed nor reviewed at the time of the announcement.{{cite news|last1=Richardson|first1=Bradford|title=After protests, Oregon college revises curriculum to include units on Mexico City and Harlem, in addition to Athens and Rome |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/6/reed-college-to-overhaul-eurocentric-western-civil/|access-date=24 April 2018|agency=Washington Times|newspaper=Washington Times|date=6 February 2018}}

Following "a contentious year of protests, including an anti-racism sit-in in Kroger's office", college president John Kroger resigned, effective June 2018.{{cite news |last1=Herron |first1=Elise |title=Reed College President John Kroger Stepping Down After Six-Year Tenure |url=https://www.wweek.com/news/2018/02/10/reed-college-president-john-kroger-stepping-down-after-six-year-tenure/ |access-date=3 October 2018 |newspaper=Willamette Week |date=Feb 10, 2018}}

{{See also|List of Reed College buildings}}

File:Reed College Portland OR - OpenStreetMap.png

File:AEDoyle-Master-Plan-1920.png

The Reed College campus was established on a tract of land in southeast Portland known in 1910 as Crystal Springs Farm, a part of the Ladd Estate, formed in the 1870s from original land claims. The college's grounds include {{convert|116|acre|km2}}{{Cite web |title=History and Description - Facilities Services - Reed College |url=https://www.reed.edu/facilities_services/history.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=www.reed.edu}} of contiguous land, including a wooded wetland known as Reed Canyon.

Portland architect A. E. Doyle developed a plan, never implemented in full, modeled on the University of Oxford's St. John's College. The original campus buildings (including the Library, the Old Dorm Block, and what is now the primary administration building, Eliot Hall) are brick Tudor Gothic buildings in a style similar to Ivy League campuses. In contrast, the science section of campus, including the physics, biology, and psychology (originally chemistry) buildings, were designed in the Modernist style. The Psychology Building, completed in 1949, was designed by Modernist architect Pietro Belluschi at the same time as his celebrated Equitable Building in downtown Portland.

The campus and buildings have undergone several phases of growth, and there are now 21 academic and administrative buildings and 18 residence halls. Since 2004, Reed's campus has expanded to include adjacent properties beyond its historic boundaries, such as the Birchwood Apartments complex and former medical administrative offices on either side of SE 28th Avenue, and the Parker House, across SE Woodstock from Prexy. At the same time the Willard House (donated to Reed in 1964), across from the college's main entrance at SE Woodstock and SE Reed College Place, was converted from faculty housing to administrative use. Reed announced on July 13, 2007, that it had purchased the Rivelli farm, a {{convert|1.5|acre|ha|adj=on|lk=out}} tract of land south of the Garden House and west of Botsford Drive. Reed's "immediate plans for the acquired property include housing a small number of students in the former Rivelli home during the 2007–08 academic year. Longer term, the college anticipates that it may seek to develop the northern portion of the property for additional student housing".{{cite web|url=http://web.reed.edu/news_center/press_releases/2007-2008/press_release.html |title=Reed College press release |publisher=Web.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}}

File:OldDormBlockReedCollege.jpg]]

Reed houses 945 students in 18 residence halls on campus and several college-owned houses and apartment buildings on or adjacent to campus.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2018/new-dorm-at-reed.html|title=Home Away from Home|website=Reed Magazine|language=en-us|access-date=2018-04-14}} Residence halls on campus range from the traditional (i.e., Gothic Old Dorm Block, referred to as "ODB") to the eclectic (e.g., Anna Mann, a Tudor-style cottage built in the 1920s by Reed's founding architect A. E. Doyle, originally used as a women's hallRomel Hernandez, "This New House", [http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/spring2007/features/this_new_house/index.html Reed] (Spring 2007), p. 15.), language houses (Spanish, Russian, French, German, and Chinese), "temporary" housing, built in the 1960s (Cross Canyon – Chittick, Woodbridge, McKinley, Griffin), to more recently built dorms (Bragdon, Naito, Sullivan). There are also theme residence halls including everything from substance-free living to Japanese culture to music to a dorm for students interested in outdoors activities (hiking, climbing, bicycling, kayaking, skiing, etc.).{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/res_life/on_campus/theme_dorms.html |title=Reed Theme Residences |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828044018/http://www.reed.edu/res_life/on_campus/theme_dorms.html |archive-date=August 28, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} The college's least-loved complex (as measured by applications to the college's housing lottery), MacNaughton and Foster-Scholz, is known on campus as "Asylum Block" because of its post-World War II modernist architecture and interior spaces dominated by long, straight corridors lined with identical doors, said by students to resemble that of an insane asylum.{{cite web |url=http://web.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html?welcome_to_campus/foster_scholz_mac.html~mainFrame |title=Foster-Scholz and Macnaughton Residence Halls |access-date=December 18, 2007 |work= Reed Virtual Tour |publisher=Reed College}} Until 2006, it was thought that these residence halls had been designed by architect Pietro Belluschi.

Under the 10-year Campus Master Plan adopted in 2006, Foster-Scholz is scheduled to be demolished and replaced, and MacNaughton to be remodeled.{{cite web | title = Campus Facilities Master Plan | publisher = Reed College | url = http://web.reed.edu/campusmasterplan/pdfs/reed_master_plan_approved.pdf }} According to the master plan, "The College's goal is to provide housing on or adjacent to the campus that accommodates 75% of the [full-time] student population. At present, the College provides on-campus housing for 838 students".

In Spring 2007, the college broke ground on the construction of a new quadrangle called the Grove, with four new Leed certified residence halls (Aspen, Sequoia, Sitka, Bidwell). They opened on the northwest side of campus in Fall 2008. A new Spanish House residence was completed. Together, the five new residences added 142 new beds.

Reed also has off-campus housing. Many houses in the Woodstock and Eastmoreland Portland neighborhoods are traditionally rented to Reed students.

On February 21, 2018, Reed announced the construction of the "largest residence hall in its history". Completed in Fall 2019, Trillium houses an additional 180 students, boosting Reed's housing capacity to nearly 80% of the student body, up from 68%.{{cite web|url=http://www.hoffmancorp.com/hoffman_opps/reed-college-residence-hall/|title=Hoffman Construction – Reed College Residence Hall|website=www.hoffmancorp.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-14}} The addition of Trillium guarantees housing for both freshman and sophomores, as students were formerly subjected to a housing lottery after freshman year.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/res_life/seek-housing/returning-student-housing-lottery.html|title=Reed College {{!}} Residence Life {{!}} Returning Student Housing & Lottery|last=College|first=Reed|website=www.reed.edu|language=en-us|access-date=2018-04-14}} The new building is also designed to meet "LEED Platinum standards", and Reed is currently evaluating proposals to put solar panels on the roof.

File:Blue Bridge at Reed College 2012.JPG]]

The Reed College Canyon, a natural area and national wildlife preserve, bisects the campus, separating the academic buildings from many of the residence halls (the so-called cross-canyon halls). The canyon is filled by Crystal Creek Springs, a natural spring that drains into Johnson Creek.{{cite news | first = Ben | last = Jacklet | title = One vine at a time | newspaper = Willamette Week | date = June 28, 2005 | url = http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=30595 | access-date = March 26, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070106010059/http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=30595 | archive-date = January 6, 2007 | url-status = dead }}

Canyon Day, a tradition dating back to 1915, is held twice a year. On Canyon Day students and Reed neighbors join canyon crew workers to spend a day helping with restoration efforts.{{cite web |url= http://web.reed.edu/canyon/cday/history.html |title= Canyon Day History |access-date=February 7, 2011 |work= Reed College Canyon |publisher= Reed College}}

A landmark of the campus, the Blue Bridge, spans the canyon. This bridge replaced the unique cantilevered bridge that served in that spot between 1959 and 1991, which "featured stressed plywood girders – the first time this construction had been used on a span of this size: a straight bridge {{convert|132|ft|m}} long and {{convert|15|ft|m}} high. It attracted great architectural interest during its lifetime".{{cite web | title = Exploring Reed's Vanished Buildings | publisher = Reed Magazine |date=August 2005 | url = http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug2005/features/vanished_buildings/2.html }}

A new pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning the canyon was opened in Fall 2008. This bridge, dubbed the "Bouncy Bridge", "Orange Bridge", and in some cases the "Amber Bridge" by students, is {{convert|370|ft|m}} long, about a third longer than the Blue Bridge, and "connect[s] the new north campus quad to Gray Campus Center, the student union, the library, and academic buildings on the south side of campus".

Reed's Cooley Gallery is an internationally recognized contemporary art space located at the entrance to the Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library. It was established in 1988 as the result of a gift from Susan and Edward Cooley in honor of their late son.{{cite journal |date=February 2001 |title=Trustee Ed Cooley Dies |journal=Reed Magazine |url=http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/Feb2001/columns/NoC/NoC_Cooley.html |access-date= December 18, 2007}} The Cooley Gallery has exhibited international artists such as Mona Hatoum, Al Held, David Reed and Gregory Crewdson as well as the contemporary art collection of Michael Ovitz.{{cite web |url=http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2006/02/new_trajectorie_1.html |title=New Trajectories I: Relocations, at Reed College |access-date=December 18, 2007 |last=Jahn |first=Jeff |date=February 17, 2006 |work=Portland art and reviews |format=blog}} In pursuit of its mission to support the curriculum of the art, art history, and humanities programs at Reed, the gallery produces three or four exhibitions each year, along with lectures, colloquia, and artist visits. The gallery is currently under the directorship of Stephanie Snyder,{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/news_center/press_releases/2006-2007/041607Getty.html |title=Reed College Gallery Curator Stephanie Snyder Receives Getty Research Fellowship |access-date=December 18, 2007 |date=April 26, 2007 |work=News Center |publisher=Reed College}} who succeeded founding director Susan Fillin-Yeh in 2004.

The cafeteria, known simply as "Commons", has a reputation for ecologically sustainable food services. The commons dining hall is operated by Bon Appétit, and food is purchased on an item-by-item basis. Suiting the student body, vegan and vegetarian dishes feature heavily on the menu. It is currently the only cafeteria on the small campus, with the exception of Canyon Cafe (formerly Caffe Circo and Caffe Paradiso), a small cafe on the other side of campus which also operated by board points. Scrounging is a long tradition at Reed College allowing students to offer unfinished Commons' food to students without board points from their trays as they are returned to be washed.{{cite web | url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/december2011/articles/apocrypha/traditions_myths_and_legends.html | title=Origin of the Scrounge}}

The Reed College Co-ops are a theme community that reside in the Farm and Garden Houses, after many years on the first floor of MacNaughton Hall. These are the only campus dorms that are independent of the school's board plan. They traditionally throw an alternative "Thanksgiving" celebration that has sometimes included a square-dance. The Co-ops house students who purchase and prepare food together, sharing chores and conducting weekly, consensus-based meetings. It is a close community valuing sustainability, organic food, consensus-based decisions, self-government, music, and plants.{{Cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/res_life/theme-housing/index.html |title=Reed College | House Advisor Search |access-date=February 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215230835/http://www.reed.edu/res_life/theme-housing/index.html |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |url-status=dead }}

File:Aubrey R. Watzek Sports Center Collapse 1.jpg the day following its collapse.]]

The Paradox ("Est. in the 80s") is a student-run coffee shop located on campus. In 2003 the Paradox opened a second coffee shop, dubbing it the "Paradox Lost" (an allusion to John Milton's Paradise Lost,) at the southern end of the biology building, in the space commonly called the "Bio Fishbowl". The new north-campus dorms, which opened in Fall 2008, feature yet another small cafe, originally dubbed "Cafe Paradiso", thereby providing three coffee shops within a {{convert|116|acre|km2|adj=on}} campus. The recent addition of a circus-themed mural to the cafe prompted a name change, and it now operates as Caffe Circo. This third shop is not student-run, but is operated by Bon Appétit. Bon Appétit has a monopoly on the food services at Reed as they are the only ones who accept board points; written into their contract is the prohibition of food carts on campus.

On February 15, 2021, the Aubrey R. Watzek Sports Center, collapsed during Winter Storm Uri.{{Cite web|title=Sports Center Gyms Collapse Following Winter Storm|url=https://reedquest.org/articles/sportscentercollapse|access-date=2021-03-17|website=The Reed College Quest|date=February 26, 2021 |language=en-US}} Both gyms that were part of the sports center collapsed.{{Cite web|last=Baldwin-Sayre|first=Carrie|title=Snowstorm Devastates Sports Center|url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2021/snowstorm-sports-center-roof.html|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Reed Magazine|language=en-us}} The collapse was attributed to excess snow piling up on the roof of the building causing a support truss to fracture, and strained several others, causing the roof to collapse. The sports center was serving as a COVID-19 testing center,{{Cite web|title=Training, Testing, Health Monitoring & Contact Tracing - COVID-19 Prevention & Response - Reed College|url=https://www.reed.edu/coronavirus/plan/health-testing-tracing.html|access-date=2021-03-17|website=www.reed.edu}} and the destruction of the testing center resulted in the loss of testing kits and other medical supplies needed for COVID-19 testing.{{Cite web|title=COVID Corner: Testing Moved to Student Union|url=https://reedquest.org/articles/covid22521|access-date=2021-03-17|website=The Reed College Quest|date=February 26, 2021 |language=en-US}}

File:Portland Pride 2014 - 063.JPG

The official mascot of Reed is the griffin. In mythology, the griffin often pulled the chariot of the sun; in canto 32 of Dante's Commedia the griffin is associated with the Tree of Knowledge. The griffin was featured on the coat-of-arms of founder Simeon Reed and is now on the official seal of Reed College. Though the school does not have varsity sports, the mascot features prominently throughout campus iconography outside of an athletic context.

The official school color of Reed is Richmond Rose.{{cite web |url=http://web.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html?welcome_to_campus/richmond_rose.html~mainFrame |title=Reed Virtual Tour |publisher=Web.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926205607/http://web.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html?welcome_to_campus%2Frichmond_rose.html~mainFrame |archive-date=September 26, 2011 |url-status=dead }} Over the years, institutional memory of this fact has faded and the color appearing on the school's publications and merchandise has darkened to a shade of maroon. The most common examples of "Richmond Rose" are the satin tapes securing the degree certificate inside a Reed College diploma.

The school song, "Fair Reed", is sung to the tune of the 1912 popular song "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms". It may be imitative of the Harvard anthem "Fair Harvard", which is also sung to the tune of "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms". It was composed by former president William Trufant Foster shortly after Reed's founding, and is rarely heard today.{{cite web | first = Robert | last = Reynolds | title = Reed College Alma Mater | publisher = Reed College | url= http://people.reed.edu/~reyn/almamater.html }}

An unofficial Reed Alma Mater, "Epistemology Forever", sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", has been sung by Reed students since the 1950s.Spencer Wyant, "Epistemology Forever", Reed Magazine, [http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug1998/news/letters.html August 1998]; Jim Kahan, "The Evolution of Epistemology Forever, Reed Magazine, [http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/spring2009/columns/NoAA/evolution.html Spring 2009].

Reed students and alumni referred to themselves as "Reedites" in the early years of the college. This term faded out in favor of the now ubiquitous "Reedie" after World War II.{{cite journal |last=McCarthy |first=Nancy |date=May 1998 |title=A Campus Life |journal=Reed Magazine |url=http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/may1998/campus/index.html |access-date= December 18, 2007}} Around campus, prospective students are called "prospies".

An unofficial motto of Reed is "Communism, Atheism, Free Love", and can be found in the Reed College Bookstore on sweaters, T-shirts, etc. It was a label that the Reed community claimed from critics during the 1920s as a "tongue-in-cheek slogan" in reference to Reed's nonconformism. Reed's founding president William T. Foster's outspoken opposition against the entrance of the United States into World War I, as well as the college's support for feminism, its adherence to academic freedom (i.e., inviting a leader of the Socialist Party of America to speak on campus about the Russian Revolution’s potential effect on militarism, emancipation of women, and ending the persecution of Jews), and its nonsectarian status made the college a natural target for what was originally meant to be a pejorative slur.{{cite journal |last=Sheehy |first=John P. |date=Summer 2007 |title=What's so funny about communism, atheism, and free love? |journal=Reed Magazine |url=http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/summer2007/features/C_A_FL/7.html |access-date= December 18, 2007}}{{cite journal |date=Summer 2007 |title=Ripped from the Archives: All you need is communism, atheism, and free love |journal=Reed Magazine |url=http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/summer2007/features/C_A_FL/8.html |access-date= December 18, 2007}}

File:ReedCollege-FauxSeal-bw.jpg

The faux Reed Seal has changed over the years. In its original form the griffin was holding a hammer and sickle in its paws. Later versions had the griffin wearing boxing gloves.

One of the unofficial symbols of Reed is the Doyle Owl, a roughly {{convert|280|lb|kg|adj=on}} concrete statue that has been continuously stolen and re-stolen since about 1919. The original Doyle Owl (originally "House F Owl" after the dormitory named House F that later became Doyle dormitory) was a garden sculpture from the neighborhood stolen by House F residents as a prank (there is a photo of House F residents around the original owl that has been made into a T-shirt). The on-campus folklore of events surrounding the Doyle Owl is sufficiently large that, in 1983, a senior thesis was written on the topic of the Owl's oral history. The original Doyle Owl was destroyed many years ago; the current avatar is Doyle Owl number 13, plus or minus 11.{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/december2011/articles/features/almanac/almanac1.html|title=The New (Olde) Reed Almanac|website=Reed Magazine}} At the present time only one Owl is being shown.[http://www.reed.edu/apply/about_reed/doyleowl.html Admission/The Doyle Owl.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509001544/http://www.reed.edu/apply/about_reed/doyleowl.html |date=May 9, 2014 }} [retrieved from Reed College website, 3 September 2012][http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/december2011/articles/features/jobs/jobs.html This article has a photo of Steve Jobs with the Doyle Owl][retrieved 17 September 2013]

Each January, before the beginning of second-semester classes, the campus holds an interim period called Paideia (drawn from the Greek, meaning 'education').{{cite web|url=http://www.reed.edu/apply/student_life/favorite_traditions.html |title=Reed College | Admission | Reed College Admission Office |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}} Originally conceived and approved by the faculty in 1968 for unstructured independent study, or "UIS", Paideia ran for the full month of January from 1969 to 1981, supervised by a committee of faculty, staff and students.{{Citation | last = Massey | first = Sammie | title = Ghosts of Paideia's Past | pages = 1, 5 | newspaper = The Quest | location = Reed College, Portland OR | date = January 27, 2012 | url = http://www.reedquest.org/2012/01/ghosts-of-paideias-past/ | access-date = January 29, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130101182529/http://www.reedquest.org/2012/01/ghosts-of-paideias-past/ | archive-date = January 1, 2013 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }} This festival of learning takes the form of classes and seminars put on by anyone who wishes to teach, including students, professors, staff members, and outside educators invited on-campus by members of the Reed Community. The classes are intended to be informal, yet intellectual activities free of the usual academic pressure endemic to Reed. Many such classes are explicitly trivial (one long-running tradition is to hold an underwater basket weaving class), while others are trivially academic (such as "Giant Concrete Gnome Construction", a class that, incidental to building monolithic gnomes, includes some content relating to the construction of pre-Christian monoliths). More structured classes (such as martial arts seminars and mini-classes on obscure academic topics), tournaments, and film festivals round out the schedule, which is different every year. The objective of Paideia is not only to learn new (possibly non-useful) things, but to turn the tables on students and encourage them to teach.

In his 2005 Stanford commencement lecture, Apple Inc. founder and Reed dropout Steve Jobs credited a Reed calligraphy class taught by Robert Palladino for his focus on choosing quality typefaces for the Macintosh.{{cite web |author= Jobs, Steve | title= Commencement Address | work=Stanford Report | date=June 14, 2005 | url=http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html | access-date=April 9, 2006}} While the full calligraphy course{{cite web | url = http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug2003/features/dance_of_pen/ | title = The Dance of the Pen | access-date = October 6, 2011 | last = Schwartz | first = Todd | date = August 2003 | work = Reed Magazine | publisher = Reed College}} is no longer taught at Reed, Paideia usually features a short course on the subject in addition to the informal, weekly gatherings (currently held every Thursday night) of aspiring calligraphy enthusiasts.

{{Main|Renn Fayre}}

Renn Fayre is an annual three-day celebration with a different theme each year. Born in the 1960s as an actual renaissance fair, it has long since lost all connection to anachronism and the Renaissance, although its name has persisted. The event is initiated by a procession of seniors throwing their thesis notes in a large bonfire after the completed theses are submitted.

{{Main|Reed Arts Week}}

Reed Arts Week is a week-long celebration of the arts at Reed. It features music, dance, film, creative writing, and the visual arts.

According to Reed's website, each semester, a $130 student body fee "is collected from each full-time student by the business office, acting as agent for the student senate. The fee underwrites publication of the student newspaper and extracurricular activities, and partially supports the student union and ski cabin."{{cite web|url=http://web.reed.edu/catalog/admission/costs.html |title=College Catalog – Reed College |publisher=Web.reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011}}

Student body funds (totaling roughly $370,000 annually) are distributed each semester to groups that place among the top 40 organizations in the semester's funding poll. The funding poll uses a voting system in which each organization provides a description that is ranked by each member of the student body with either 'top six,' 'approve,' 'no opinion,' 'disapprove.' A former 'deep six' was eliminated from the system in 2019. These ranks are then tabulated by assigning numbers to each rank and summing across all voters.For more information, see [http://web.reed.edu/community/SB/senate/signators/sectiontwo.html Signators' Handbook] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214063243/http://web.reed.edu/community/SB/senate/signators/sectiontwo.html |date=February 14, 2012}} Afterwards, the top forty organizations present their budgets to the student body senate during Funding Circus. The following day the senate makes decisions about each budget in a process called Funding Hell.

The school's student-run newspaper, The Reed College Quest or simply the Quest, has been published since 1913, and its radio station KRRC had been broadcasting, with a few interruptions, from 1955{{cite news |title=KRRC: The (barely audible) voice of Reed College |first=Patti |last=MacRae |work=Reed Magazine |date=August 2002 |url=http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug2002/features/KRRC/index.html}}{{cite web |url=http://www.reed.edu/student_activities/student_media.html |title=Reed College: Student media |publisher=Reed.edu |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129122738/http://reed.edu/student_activities/student_media.html |archive-date=November 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all}} The station now broadcasts online only at krrc.fm.{{Cite web|url=https://krrc.fm/|title=KRRC|publisher=KRRC}}

Although some student organizations partnered with outside groups such as Oxfam or Planned Parenthood are more structured, most student organizations are highly informal. There is no formal process for forming a student organization at Reed; a group of students (or a single student) announcing themselves as or just considering themselves a student organization is enough, but groups that desire funding from the school's Student Activities office or Student Body Fees must register with Student Activities or through the Student Senate. The Reed archive of comic books and graphic novels, the MLLL (Comic Book Reading Room), is well into its fourth decade, and Beer Nation, the student group that organizes and manages various beer gardens throughout the year and during Renn Fayre, has existed for many years. Some organizations, such as the Motorized Couch Collective—dedicated to installing motors and wheels into furniture—have become more Reed myth than reality in recent years.{{citation|author=Reed Student Senate|publisher=Reed College Quest|title=Spring 2006 Funding Poll|date=April 20, 2006}}

Reed has ample recreational facilities on campus, a ski cabin on Mount Hood, recreational clubs such as the Reed Outing Club (ROC), and Club Sports (with college-paid coaches), including ultimate frisbee, co-ed soccer, rugby, basketball, and squash.{{cite web |url=http://web.reed.edu/sports_center/ |title=Sports Center |access-date=December 18, 2007 |publisher= Reed College}}

According to a Washington Post analysis of federal campus safety data from 2014, Reed College had 12.9 reports of rape per 1,000 students, the "highest total of reports of rape" per 1,000 students of any college in the nation on its main campus.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/06/07/these-colleges-have-the-most-reports-of-rape/|title=These colleges have the most reports of rape|newspaper=Washington Post}}

In 2012, Reed College had the third highest reported sexual assault rate among U.S. colleges and universities. It is unclear whether this high reporting rate arises from the college and student body fostering an environment that is more supportive of reporting sexual assault or due to a higher offending pattern by students.{{cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/how_sexual_assault_rates_compa.html |title=How sexual assault rates compare among Oregon's colleges | OregonLive.com |date=July 2, 2014 }} in 2013 there were 19 reported forcible sexual offenses among the approximately 1,400 students at the college.{{Cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=reed+college&s=all&id=209922|title=College Navigator - Reed College|website=nces.ed.gov}} In 2011, a student member of Reed's Judicial Board resigned over the college's handling of sexual assault cases. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that those found responsible in cases of sexual assault frequently faced few consequences, while the lives of the victims were left in turmoil.{{cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/04/reed_college_gripped_by_debate.html |title=Reed College embroiled in debate about sexual assaults | OregonLive.com |date=April 4, 2011 }}

==Notable people==

{{Main|List of Reed College people}}

File:Steve Jobs Headshot 2010-CROP.jpg|Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc.

File:Larry Sanger cropped.jpg|Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia

File:Gary Snyder, 2007 (cropped).jpg|Gary Snyder, poet

File:Richard Danzig, official Navy photo.jpg|Richard Danzig, 71st U.S. Secretary of the Navy

File:Suzan DelBene, official portrait, 115th Congress.jpg|Suzan DelBene, U.S. Representative from Washington

File:Richard L. Hanna 113th Congress.jpg|Richard L. Hanna, U.S. Representative from New York

File:Hope Lange 1957.jpg|Hope Lange, Academy Award-nominated actress

File:James Beard.jpg|James Beard, chef and television personality

File:Arlene Blum 1977 003.jpg|Arlene Blum, mountaineer

File:Emilio Pucci.jpg|Emilio Pucci, fashion designer

Notable Reed alumni include Tektronix co-founder Howard Vollum (1936), physicist James J. Brady (1927), businessman John Sperling (1948), linguistic anthropologist Dell Hymes (1950), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder (1951), fantasy author David Eddings (1954), distance learning pioneer John Bear (1959), socialist and feminist activist and author Barbara Ehrenreich (1963), radio personality Dr. Demento (1963), programmer, software publisher, author, and philanthropist Peter Norton (1965), former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig (1965), alpinist and biophysical chemist Arlene Blum (1966), chemist Mary Jo Ondrechen (1974), computer engineer Daniel Kottke (1976), and Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger (1991).

Among those who attended but did not graduate from Reed are Academy Award-nominated actress Hope Lange, chef James Beard, horse rancher and conspiracy theorist Christopher Langan, and Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs.

Notable Reed faculty of the past and present include former U.S. Senator from Illinois Paul Douglas, and physicists Richard Crandall and David Griffiths.

Reed has been featured in several books and movies. It is often presented as an enigmatic, eccentric institution at which people who do not fit into mainstream society come together to learn.

• Blue Like Jazz (2003) by Donald Miller is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's life, and details the author's encounters with other Reed students while auditing classes there in the early 2000s.{{Cite web|last=Challies|first=Tim|date=April 27, 2014|title=The Bestsellers: Blue Like Jazz {{!}} Tim Challies|url=https://www.challies.com/articles/the-bestsellers-blue-like-jazz/|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.challies.com/}}
• The Other (2008) by David Guterson depicts a Reed College student who drops out after his freshman year to live a solitary life in the Olympic Mountains.{{Cite web|title=Reed in Fiction|url=http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/june2012/articles/web_special/reed_fiction.html|access-date=2021-03-14|website=Reed Magazine}}{{Cite news|last=Barcott|first=Bruce|date=2008-06-15|title=Into the Woods (Published 2008)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/books/review/Barcott-t.html|access-date=2021-03-14|issn=0362-4331}}
• Steve Jobs (2011) by Walter Isaacson is a biography commissioned by Steve Jobs, a Reed College dropout, and contains a chapter on Jobs's experience attending Reed College.{{Cite web|title=Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson — Summary – Karlbooklover|url=https://www.karlbooklover.com/steve-jobs-by-walter-isaacson-summary/|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.karlbooklover.com}}

The Reed College campus has been the set of several motion pictures since 1977.{{Cite web|last=Oregonian/OregonLive|first=Jeff Baker {{!}} The|date=2014-07-01|title=5 movies filmed at Reed College; four are failures, one is great|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2014/07/5_movies_filmed_at_reed_colleg.html|access-date=2021-03-14|website=oregonlive|language=en}}

• The Possessed (1977) is a made-for-television horror film that follows an undead priest who fights demonic forces at a women's college in Salem, Oregon.{{Cite web|title=DVD Talk|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/52637/possessed-1977-the/|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.dvdtalk.com}}
• First Love (1977) depicts a love story between a male college soccer player and an attractive female student who is loved by another man.
• Feast of Love (2007) depicts the story of a group of friends who live in Portland, Oregon, the film is composed of vignettes, some of which were filmed on the Reed College campus.{{Cite news|date=1977-11-15|title=Clipped From Statesman Journal|pages=10|work=Statesman Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44224594/statesman-journal/|access-date=2021-03-14}}
• Into the Wild (2007) is an adaptation of the Jon Krakauer book of the same name published in 1996, Reed College was used as a stand in during some scenes for Emory University.{{Cite web|last=Singh|first=Prerna|date=2020-12-31|title=Where Was Into the Wild Filmed? All Into the Wild Movie Filming Locations|url=https://thecinemaholic.com/where-was-into-the-wild-filmed-2/|access-date=2021-03-14|website=The Cinemaholic|language=en-US}}
• Blue Like Jazz (2012) is the film adaptation of the book by Donald Miller; the film is set and partially filmed at Reed College. The film follows the story of a religiously disillusioned Texan native who moves to the progressive Pacific Northwest to attend Reed College.{{Citation|title=Blue Like Jazz (2012) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1758575/plotsummary|access-date=2021-03-14}}

• List of Reed College people
• List of Reed College buildings

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Sheehy |first=John |title=Comrades of the Quest: An Oral History of Reed College |publisher=Oregon State University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0870716676}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |first1=John |last1=Sheehy |first2=Gay |last2=Walker |url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/reed_college/#.U3uFnSiorqw |title=Reed College |encyclopedia=The Oregon Encyclopedia |publisher=Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society |access-date=2015-04-14}}

{{Commons category|Reed College}}

• {{official website|http://www.reed.edu/}}

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