Reed College Top Questions

Most students here are very laid-back (I have overused this word, I know) friendly people who love talking about almost anything. Some people dress to impress, others dress to stand out, but most just dress casually. It's considered "weird" to come dressed up in suit and tie, but not the bad kind of "weird"! There are also a lot of animal-loving people on campus and you will find a lot of vegans attend Reed. Most students lean left, but are very thoughtful about it. If someone takes issue with something another person believes, mostly it'll end in a huge debate but there are rarely any huge issues on campus. One thing that does set Reed apart is the large number of smokers on campus.

Reed is very white, and very privileged. There is growing and productive critique of this, largely from organizations like the Feminist Student Union, Black and African Student Union, and Multicultural Resource Center. For the most part, though, most students and administration are very comfortable with their elite positioning and only give nominal attention to discussions of race and class. But on another topic, as a queer lady I found a huge amount of support at Reed. I felt comfortable, I felt visible, and I felt like we had space to organize and be heard. There is a large and welcoming queer and activist community of people doing amazing work and taking amazing care of one another. Of course there were plenty of issues that came up in dealing with administration and in navigating classrooms dominated by entitled, mostly male voices, but at the same time, those issues were continuously talked about and resisted.

Lots of Californians. Lots of liberals. Not as big into money, probably because they grew up with plenty. Students can wear pretty much anything and not get teased about it. Girls typically don't do the whole make-up/blowdried hair deal, although a few do. Some very shy people, awkward people, borderline-asbergers people. Some very friendly outgoing people. Students are often not that politically active 'cause they focus on their schoolwork too much, but I do know some anarchist-type activists. Drug use is very prevalent and accepted, although students who don't use drugs definitely exist too--not a problem as long as they accept that they'll be friends with folks who do use. People of all types can hang out. Although we have a few exclusive meanies, not very many.

Everyone's a little bit queer here, so it seems. It's certainly fashionable to be LG or at least hetero-flexible. But straight people are also still socially accepted. I'm not rich. Not even close. There are other people who aren't as well. But I was flabbergasted as to the number of students on campus who don't need financial aid when i got here. But just because their parents are rich doesn't mean the students drives BMW's. Plenty of them choose to reject their rich parents and wear the same thrift-store purchased clothes for weeks at a time. Not a lot of racial diversity in Portland (compared to say, San Francisco or NYC). Reed has several race-related groups such as the Latino-student union, the Black men's student union, etc. What do most students wear to class? Whatever they fucking feel like, whether that be a bathrobe, wedding dress, cape, historical reproduction of Elizabeth's corset, or fetish boots. Or, you know, clothes. There are as many different types of student as there are students, and yes we interact. Most of us are from CA, and most of those are from the Bay Area. There are activist/political groups on campus that are rockin'. Academics don't usually earn much cash. They spend too much on school and spend all their time locked away, so there's little to brag about. And performance artists, like myself, may expect to live very humble lives.

There are all types here. My first roommate was a pan-sexual vegan gal from Minnesota whose girlfriend was a tranny, for example. The student body is predominantly white, and often it feels like most of the minorities are from abroad. There was an incident at Halloween with some dummies being hung from trees - which created a scandal (especially in light of certain current events). But the prank wasn't done with malice or anything, more it shows how the Reed campus often has a lack of racist conceptions. Reedies seem to be mostly from the east coast, with a lot of Bay area people, some NWerners and midwesterners and fewer southerners. I think the financial situations are extremely diverse. Reed students often have very little concept of what's happening out in the world, we call it the "Reed bubble". There's so much happening with school, that current events often feel like an overload. Definitely a left campus, but there are many a right winger here - and I don't think they get a lot of shit. Reedies don't EVER talk about earning potentials. Most of us have no fucking clue where we'll be in twenty years. Sure it would be nice to have money someday, but most people are looking for an invocation not a bank roll.

Reed is full of hipsters. You can recognize them by their lame haircuts and remarkable ability to name at least five unknown indie bands in any conversation. I try to avoid them. Reed, like most of Oregon, is very white. I went to a public high school in a major city, so Reed is much whiter than what I'm used to. There are minority students, and a multicultural resource center, and we all interact with one another. Students tend to group themselves based on academic interests and extracurricular interests. For example, a lot of the linguistics students hang out together, and some of them are also in the association of Reed gamers, and they tend to hang out together. My roommate has friendships that seem mostly based on a love of Guitar Hero. The student body as a whole is less inherently politically charged than it used to be, but there are political groups on campus that organize events. While many students at Reed come from an upper middle class background, there are also many, many students on financial aid. We're ALL worried about finding jobs after graduation, but that has more to do with the current economy than with how well Reed is preparing us for the real world.

Reed is white. Lily white. Entitled upper-middle-class to upper-class brats who have decided to be liberal and weird. Reedies like to think that they are a cut above the rest. They also have very very little courtesy. The average middle-class American would NOT fit in at Reed, in fact, he or she would be made to feel very small indeed.

Reed is trying to diversify but it is pretty socially and racially homogenous. Most people here are white and upper-middle to upper-class. This can get frustrating. No one I've met is openly racist, though, and it's anathema to flaunt wealth (people try very hard not to act privileged). Students are predominantly liberal and non-religious. There are very few practicing religious people (I know two or three) and very few Republicans (though I know several libertarians and plenty who just don't care). There are LOTS of jews (secular/non-practicing, as a rule), LOTS of Californians, LOTS of socially awkward (and usually lovable) people, LOTS of cigarette smokers, LOTS of people with a genuine interest in learning for its own sake. And LOTS of psych majors, for some reason, or maybe I just run into them oddly frequently. For the most part, I feel comfortable interacting with different groups of students. There are clear groups but there are plenty of travelers also. You will probably feel out of place at Reed if you fit under any of these definitions (though it shouldn't necessarily stop you from coming--the school could use more diverse opinions): 1) Very religious 2) Very conservative 3) Very against drug use (you probably will not be pressured to use drugs yourself if you are against it, but be aware that drugs, especially weed, are very common. If smelling pot smoke bothers you, you will be probably be annoyed a lot.) 4) Very close-minded 5) Very against academic wankery (there's a lot of that here. It's lots of fun unless it bugs you, in which case it can get very annoying very fast).

Racially, religiously, socio-economically not diverse. Not one bit. You can find good community if you try and work for it, but as a whole community that is safe and healthy, Reed has much room for improvement.

Immature. People here are so immature they still take notes on their hands. Memo to the Reed Student Body: Grow up. You're not in sixth grade anymore. And no, you are not as smart as you think you are.