Reed College Top Questions

Multiple Reed houses (just off-campus housing) throw parties; it's an insular environment (<1400 student body population) so you get to know people fast (also depending on where you work in the library). There are no football games, thank g-d. I hated that in high school, how glorified the brains-in-his-biceps dumb-jock mentality and the ditzy cheerleaders were. I am totally into adrenaline surges and competition in good spirits, but I think sports are much too revered in our culture (million dollar salaries for basketball and football players?!), and having sports take such prominence in college serves only to feed into this chest-beating Must Win frenzy. Homer's Iliad -- required reading in the required humanities course -- underscores how deep-seated this "timé" (honor/glory in Greek) is to our culture. Rugby at Reed is amazing. Rugby parties are amazing. Pool Hall Formal is amazing. Dance parties take place in the Student Union several times per month. There are rockin' things to do around Portland, too, if you ever have time to get off campus.

If you're awake a 2am on a Tuesday, you're probably working. Reed does have extracurricular activities and plenty of groups and organizations, but the only thing the whole student body has in common is dedication to academia. Sporting event, while they do occur, are not campus wide events...many students couldn't care less.

Fraternities and sororities do not exist at Reed. Never have, and never will. So don't expect them. Both men's and women's rugby, I'd like to think, occupy that space in the hearts of the larger and less brittle of Reedies. Phys Ed is a graduation requirement that can be great for meeting people outside the familiar dorm / Hum class circle of friends, and does it in an atmosphere that is healthful and invigorating. More important for me, and I think many Reedies, than the rather vast and quite random selection of student organizations like Oh, For Christ's Sake or MLL, the comic book room, is Reed's collection of traditional "holidays" (from the true, holy origin of the word) and festivities. Every year, each of Reed's five language houses (Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Chinese) hosts one or two campus-wide events (think Day of the Dead, Oktoberfest, Moon Festival), which give people a chance to show their creative foreign sides and other people a chance to bask in their inebriated, music-intoxicated atmospheres. The Noise Parade, one of two true Reed inspirings, when Reedies are at their most Reedie, happens twice a year, in full flamboyant glory, complete with stilt-walkers, fire-dancers, loud, costumed and face-painted pot-bangers, bonfires, and naked and paint-splattered young males. Drag Ball, Pool Hall Formal, and the Talking Heads dance party are some other traditional medicinals (good for anything from sexual frustration to breaking those study-hard blues). The other most Reedie of all Reed days is, of course, Renn Fayre, a campus-wide private party in which anything and everything is not only possible, but funded, and funded well. Giant inflatable monkeys hanging from trees; the Hauser fun dome (aka library) camouflaged to look like a skull cave; an inflated pirate ship on the front lawn; one of those giant black glow boards where you put the colored plastic pegs in the little round holes and they light up; free pancake breakfasts; naked kids wearing only blue paint and howling war cries; the occasional zombie or something else; your best shoes permanently stained with champagne; colored Gnome Domes supported only by the heated air from the sidewalk vent and strewn with pillows; the Black House, with music, blacklights and pillows open until 4am every night; ubiquitous condoms and other pleasurable vices... in 3 words, relief, abandon, joy.

Social life at reed is, like many other universities, multifaceted. You can fall into any number of situations. You might find yourself sitting alone in your dorm and writing e-mails to the girl you left back home. If you leave your door open, your dormies might come in and drag you out for a beer, or just a game of Dance Dance Revolution. You might find yourself in the poolhall (highly recommended) where you will be continuously challenged to game after exhausting game of the best game in the world. You will be offered many a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon as it is our beer of choice. Learn to like it. It's not so bad and it's very cheap. If that's not your thing, you can hang out with the beer nation crowd or just a handful of Westcoast kids who appreciate a good microbrew. Happy, down at the seven-eleven on the corner, does not check ID's so very thoroughly and is a complete and utter sweetheart, even if she doesn't smile so often. We have a dance party coalition. I have nothing to do with it and know very little of it but if you like the occasional rager filled with sweaty geeks in a small room listening to prince... it might be your thing. I undersell it... it's fun for those who like it. There is an annual talking heads dance party where we just play "stop making sense" in the SU and that's a damn good time, even if dance parties aren't your thing. We have a lot of good events, if you want to bring a speaker or an artist to perform, you can get money for it. We allocate a shitton of cash to student interests and you just have to put yourself out there and grab it. This school is rich, if you want something, you can get it. You just have to ask hard enough. We have no frats, no sororities and we're damn proud of it. That said, the rugby team is something like a frat. House parties are commonly thrown by upper classmen. They're fun, but if you're an underclassman you might find yourself standing in a corner with other underclassmen. This is ok. Learn to love feeling awkward. Reed has a very awkward social scene and it will drive you crazy.

There are lots of amazing things that go on at Reed. Inquire for more info. Don't worry about the "dating scene" because no matter which college you go to, you'll find someone worth liking. Theater...wish it was better, but it isn't. There are too many organizations to list, and if you can't find one you're passionate about, its very easy to do your own. For example I was a track athlete in high school, and although Reed does not have a track team, I made one and was able to compete my freshman year at 5 meets. However the following years academics took over. If I was a smarter person I could probably do both (many people do) but I'm not and only one gets priority.

P.E. is a requirement at Reed, so some sports teams (particularly Ultimate Frisbee and Fencing) have a lot of enthuists, but the majority of Reedies aren't very enthusiastic about exercise. SEEDS and other organizations are volunteer programs through which Reedies can help the nearby Portland community. Mostly they involve working at nearby schools and community centers. The Commons or the cafeteria is a great place to meet new people! And don't forget to leave your leftovers with the Scroungers. Generally people don't party too often on weekdays since schoolwork is pretty important, but weekends are usually a blast! If partying isn't your thing, there are plenty of things to do that don't involve drinking and puking! There's the MLL with every single comic known to man, the Pool Hall which is a great place to meet people, and, if you're more of a reader, the Library is open pretty much 24-7.

Reed puts a lot of emphasis on the Reed community in its literature. Despite having an honor principle, which is a community code of ethics, there really is no Reed community. There are pockets of community which students have built for themselves, but they are largely outside of and in resistance to the Reed institution. But for the most part, Reed students are alienated, disconnected, and care more about spending a lot of time in the library than about taking care of themselves and each other. People complain about the degradation of the honor principle, but an honor principle is moot if there is no mass participation in creating a supportive and ethical community. Small communities exist that arise among people who are actively interested in supporting each other. My community at Reed consists of those people interested in sustainable cooperative living, particularly radical, queer, feminist and activist folks. Most of us live off-campus, and have lives and jobs in the larger Portland community. Most of us are engaged in some way in building alternatives to the Reed institution, through activism and organizing, alternative reading curricula, music, art, shared meals and so on.

Many of my friends I met through my dorm freshman year. Many of the rest were from classes, or from my ex-boyfriends dorm (the co-op). My off-campus house has several other off-campus houses with folks we hang out with a lot--mostly people who used to live in the co-op. If I'm awake at 2 am in the morning on a Tuesday, I'm almost definitely doing schoolwork. I found Argentine tango through our PE class here and go out dancing multiple times a week, so I have a lot of off-campus friends too. Athletic events aren't that popular, but you can certainly play frisbee or rugby or basketball if that's what you're into.

Weapons of Mass Distraction is our kick ass fire performance and circus arts troupe. We play with fire and own an aerial rig, because we are so bad ass. The Dance Troupe is a cute opportunity for people who want more dance performance opportunity on campus to get some, and to choreograph, etc. Athletic events? We have ultimate frizbee and rugby, men's and women's, and i've never gone. Guest speakers are generally very well attended, provided they have something interesting to say. Theater events sell out when it's Tom Stoppard but are otherwise not as well attended as they should be, considering how good they usually are. Dating -- it's mostly either casual(or awkward) sex or crazy possessive time consuming monogamy. "If you are awake at 2 am on a tuesday, what are you doing?" I'm awake at 3 am on a wednesday and I am doing this survey. I am pointedly *not* doing either of my two qualifying exams or either of the two research projects, all due within the next week. Renn Fayre happens every spring, and it's amazing (but only if you go to Reed) There is usually a dance party or some other event going on every weekend. THERE ARE NO FRAT HOUSES OR SORORITIES. Last weekend I went tango dancing at a club off campus, took a trapeze class, rehearsed my choreography with the Dance Troupe, and did my dance junior qualifying exam. There's plenty to do without drinking. You can go dancing (tango, for instance), play pool, hang out with people and say "No thanks" like you have a mind of your own, you could stand outside of the dorm window of that chick you have a crush on with a boombox playing "In Your Eyes", or any other of the million things available.

Clubs on campus: Rugby (men and women - closest thing we have to a Greek system), CAVE (carnivorous alternatives to vegan eating - they cook meat (and vegetables)), Greenboard (for all the environmentalists out there), Vox (for all those pro-choicers), Feminist student union... Oh, I'm not involved in any groups - I smoke marijuana instead. Dorm doors are open in some dorms, not in others. My freshmen dorm was tight, this is where I met all my best friends. And yes, the doors were always open. Athletic events get no audience (basically), guest speakers can have moderate to heavy turnout (Dan Savage got a ridiculously full house), and the theatre performances usually run out of seating. Dating... it happens. But think about the average socially awkward person, meeting another average socially awkward person - a lot of the time it is awkward. And so goes Reed dating. But seriously, it takes a lot of work to date here - it's often at the sacrifice of school work, friends, or sleep - but a lot of people do it.