Lewis and Clark College has a reputation for being a hippie school, which often overshadows the first-rate liberal arts education it offers its students in a gorgeous northwestern setting. It’s located in southwest Portland, Oregon, with a beautiful natural landscape despite the near-constant rainy season. “When the sun comes out, LC is like a dream campus,” writes a senior. “Everyone is outside, playing Frisbee, lying in the grass, and loving life. Otherwise, the rain is a bummer and keeps everyone inside or at the gym.” The environmentally- and socially-conscious students often clash with administrators, especially as school officials try to elevate LC into the top tier of
liberal-arts colleges. “They [the administration] are more concerned with bringing money into the college than helping students and keeping their promises,” complains a junior.
But beyond those complaints, most students find plenty to like about Lewis and Clark. The school’s beautiful campus, easy access to Portland, and laid-back student body contribute to a friendly academic and social environment. Says a sophomore, “It's gorgeous, just like our happy little hill, with a great mixture of city life and lots of opportunities for the outdoorsy types."
One sophomore writes, “Lewis and Clark provides rigorous academics, and everyone is focused on school, no matter what other activities they enjoy in their free time.“It offers a number of strong academic programs, especially its psychology department. But what really sets Lewis and Clark apart
from similar liberal arts colleges, according to students, is professors’
investment in students’ success. “For all of the disadvantages a small school creates in the social scene, it more than makes up for it on the academic side of campus,” says a freshman. “All of my professors know their students' names and are willing to meet and help with the material anytime. Professors at LC are very accessible and are concerned about their students and passionate about what they teach.” The LC curriculum does not aim
to uphold archaic educational ideals, according to another student. “LC really aims at teaching students things
they want to know and wants students to do what THEY want to do. It’s focused on right NOW.”
There’s definitely a hippie vibe on campus. Students tend to adopt strongly liberal political views and shy away from organized religion. But don’t expect LC students to fit your parents’ Berkeley-circa-1969 hippie stereotype.
“There are some ‘hippies,’- meaning kids with parents who are able to send them to a private liberal arts college and pay for their new Subarus and Priuses, but who continue to dress and smell like they have been living in the backwoods for three years,” writes a freshman. But the LC crowd is more socially and
culturally diverse than many expect, according to one student: “There are plenty of…rich kids from private schools, and plenty of smelly hippies…but there are also tons of people in between.”
The small student body has both its advantages and
disadvantages for students. “The social
scene can be a lot like high school,” says one student. “Because it is so small, everyone knows who is dating who and has pre-formed ideas about what people are like….expect to see a lot of the same people at parties, and don’t do anything stupid when you are drunk, because you will run into them the next morning at brunch!” On the other hand, according to another
student, “The school has a really good sense of community. Between the size and its setting, there’s
almost a camp-like experience.” Girls looking to partner up with an LC
guy have an especially frustrating time, one junior says: “The guy-to-girl
ratio is not in our favor, ladies—40:60.
And of those here, many are gay or already taken.” One senior girl describes the mad scramble for any attractive boys as the “LC
Goggles” phenomenon, saying, “Most women figure out pretty quickly that they should try Craigslist, Portland State University, or go to bars/coffee shops downtown if they want to actually date.”
While people usually enjoy likeminded company, there are
sometimes complaints that the student body doesn’t represent enough opposing
points-of-view. “If you look under some rocks, you’ll find a Republican,” jokes
a sophomore. One senior says, “There are also several Christian groups on campus; however, many generally are annoyed with how Christianity is singled out as a terrible religion.” Students who don’t fit the hippie mold won’t
be ostracized—acceptance and tolerance are important campus values—but they
will certainly find themselves in the minority, according to one junior: “Everyone fits in at LC because we attract open-minded, laid back, inclusive people from all over the world.”
While intense classes keep Lewis and Clark students busy,
they always manage to find time to squeeze in extracurricular involvement. A junior reports, “Students study enough to get good grades, but we're not insane about it. Almost everyone is involved in something extracurricular, whether it be the Juggling Club, a cappella, Jewish Student Union, or the Soccer Team.” Campus also houses a student-run co-op, where
LC students can teach or take free classes on anything they’ve got a knack for,
from Reiki to playing the guitar. The
co-op is also where many students head to hang out and mingle, according to a
senior: “The student run Co-Op is a great place to get a cup of coffee or cookie, study with friends, look at student art, and hear live music.” Another distinctive LC feature is the College
Outdoors program, “an organization on campus that has various outdoors activities throughout the year, including over breaks,” according to a
freshman. “My roommate went on a trip to the Grand Canyon with them, and I hiked in the Redwoods of Northern California.” Students have differing opinions on LC’s
reputation for political activism. One
student disputes it, describing so-called activists as “white, elitist, liberal hypocrites who talk a lot about activism, but mostly sit around their dorm rooms, smoking pot….desperately trying to prove that they are more liberal than someone else.” Another writes, “Students are very politically aware and active. Many travel around for protests.”
Campus is located on the outskirts of Portland,
Oregon. The distance from the city center keeps Portland impinging on LC’s “college town” atmosphere which one student calls “one of the best
things about LC. You can take the free
shuttle to the city almost anytime, yet we are outside the city, so you don’t
have the city noise.” While the shuttle doesn’t run as frequently
as some students would like, it’s reliable in a pinch, and students appreciate
the easy access it offers to Portland’s resources. A recent alumna explains, “The school is located in a beautiful area, but it's kind of far from anything fun.”
Students tend to hang out in the city only occasionally, but when they do, they
enjoy the museums and the bars of Portland, especially a popular gay club
called Escape and a concert venue that regularly attracts national indie-rock
acts.
Students at Lewis and Clark tend to hang out in the campus dorms
and like to party as much as the next college, though they’re not opposed to a
nice quiet evening in, either. “People party usually every Friday and Saturday night, and occasionally take part in wasted Wednesday, depending on how much you like to drink. But it's also fun to watch movies, chill with friends, and go out to dinner downtown.” Concerts, both on-campus and off, are
popular LC social events, and students enjoy taking in the indie-rock in
Portland clubs. Portland also caters to
the LC weekend warriors with “big free arts shows in the city…every first and last Thursday of the month.” And of course, there’s LC’s most notorious after-hours indulgence, smoking pot—which,
students say, isn’t as notorious as the rumors would have them believe. “No one is a waste and just smoking away their lives,” writes a freshman. “We smoke as a balance to our work. People look out for each other and don't let them let drugs and alcohol get in the way of their lives.”
Lewis and Clark hopes its students will take advantage of
the full experience it offers, whether in the classroom, on the hiking trails,
or hanging out in the co-op. Weighing
the pros against the cons, most students are sure they’d still choose LC if they had to do it again. “I think, at some point, everybody I know has had an existential crisis about attending Lewis and Clark,” says a junior.“We often wonder if we are doing the right
thing by attending a small, expensive college that nobody has ever heard
of. "But, at the end of the day, I think
the fact that everybody I know thinks enough to find themselves in an
existential crisis says something in itself.”
