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The biggest controversy on campus at the moment is the attempted change in the cigarette policy. There is a pretty much unsaid rule that you can smoke in the pool hall though it is a room in the GCC and technically illegal. Recently the administration tried to pull a fast one on the students and were charging kids 100$ for smoking indoors. Student Senate and the whole student body got really up in arms about the change in policy without consulting the students or even making an announcement. Then, the administration had to back down and revert back to the old policy. We're seeing our student autonomy slip like sand between out fingers and we're all crying as it slowly dies. Oh, and Portland is tight.

Professors know my name because I speak often in class. Students study very often... and procrastinate very often. Classes are conference based, and therefore cannot function without student participation. Students are generally not competitive because most professor, beside in math and chem etc, don't write grades on tests or essays. You have to specifically request your grades from the registrar to see them. Reed is geared toward learning for its own sake. All freshman have to take a humanities class in which we study ancient Greek and Roman cultures through literature, philosophy, art, and history. That stuff is so not useful in the "real world," but you become so cultured!!!

Students are pretty homogenous in the sense that the average reedie is white, upper-middle class, liberal and atheist. I know more black kids that are on an exchange program from Ghana than actual African-American kids. There are a lot of really great exchange students especially from England. Reed is not cliquey at all and we all intermingle well with very little social hierarchy.

Most popular club: RKSK or Reed Kollege Shit Kollectiv. I always leave my door unlocked. I am probably the biggest sports fan and I've attended 4 soccer games and 2 rugby games only because I am friends with the English kids on each of them, and my dorm is right next to the field. No one watches the sports games. No one. If I am NOT awake on a Tuesday, then something weird is going on. Traditional events are big at Reed and are totally better than any other school. They include: Noise Parade, O-week, Hum Play, and most notably RENN FAYRE. There are no frats/sororities, thank god. A Saturday night without drinking is spent at the library or sleeping? Off campus I go to shows, shopping at thrift stores, go out to dinner, and go on bike rides.

Reed students are socially awkward. They were all losers in high school. We are all addicted to cigarettes. There are many dirty hippies. The majority of everyone's time is spent in the library. People get publicly naked a lot. Everyone hooks up with everyone else. Gossip spreads like wildfire. Everyone is really smart. Everyone does drugs, and many of them.

Though there are many "nerdy-loser" types, there are a lot of hipster kids around too, along with other less stigma-attached personality types. Everyone is addicted to cigarettes. There's a few hippies, but not very many dedicated ones. I spend all my time in the library, but a lot of people study in their rooms. People do get naked on nice days, but only four people showed up to the "no pants" dance party in the student union. There are less than 1.5 thousand kids, everyone does hook up with everyone, and then in less than three hours, everyone else knows about it. This is so true. The majority of students are quite intelligent, though a few... not so much. In terms of drugs, I live in very proximity of two floors of substance-free kids. I know a total of three of them. Not everyone does drugs, though many people do, but if you're totally straight-edge...you may not have many friends.

Reed is really awesome. I would not like to go anywhere else. I just wish I didn't have to fulfill the science requirement.