2 Distinguishing features

Reed is one of the more unusual institutions of higher learning in the United States. It features a traditional liberal arts curriculum, requiring freshmen to take Humanities 110 - an intensive introduction to the Classics. Hum 110, as most students refer to it, covers ancient GreeceGreece formally called the Hellenic Republic (in Greek: ) Hellenike Demokratia , is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It is bounded on land by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania and RomeRome ( Italian and Latin Roma is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. It is located on the lower Tiber river, near the Mediterranean Sea, at 41°50'N, 12°15'E. The Vatican City State, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman. Its program in the sciences is likewise unusual -- Reed's TRIGA research reactor makes it the only school in the US to have a nuclear reactorLeibstadt, Switzerland. The nuclear reactor is inside the dome-shaped containment building. A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear fission chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion operated almost entirely by undergraduates. Reed is also one of the few remaining schools that require 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.

It is a haven for intense intellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. In some contexts, especially journalistic speech, intellectual often refers to academics, generally in the humanities, especially ps and idealistsIn philosophy, Idealism is any theory positing the primacy of spirit, mind, or language over matter. It includes claiming that thought has some crucial role in making the world the way it is--that thought and the world are made for one another, or that th, who often appear to outsiders as unkempt hippies. Reed has a reputation for making room for students who show promise of one sort or another but who did not do so well in high school, though its overall admissions standards are high. This encourages the blossoming of many scholars inspired by the extremely intense academic experience, but also leads to some attrition even though the five-year graduation rate exceeds the national average. The class of 2008's average SAT score is 1393 and GPA was 3.95, with 47 percent of applicants accepted.

Reed has no fraternities, sororities, or NCAA sports teams; all of which, in theory, allows students to concentrate as much of their energies as possible on studies. This has contributed to the stereotypes of Reed students being highly unathletic; but in fact many students are excellent athletes. Reed's ultimate frisbee and rugby teams have recently defeated teams from much more sports-centric schools.

The official mascot of Reed is the griffin (pictured above). In mythology, the griffin often pulled the chariot of the sun, making the griffin the symbolic "protector of knowledge and bane of ignorance". The griffin was featured on the coat-of-arms of founder Simeon Reed, and is now on the official seal of Reed College.

The official school color of Reed is called richmond rose, possibly in part because Portland is the City of Roses. Over the years, memory of this fact has faded, and the color appearing on the school's publications and merchandise has darkened to a shade of maroon, which many people now consider the de facto school color.

2.1 Unofficial mottos and folklore

The unofficial motto of Reed is "Atheism, Communism, and Free Love". (it's sold in the Reed College Bookstore on sweaters, t-shirts, etc.)

One of the unofficial symbols of Reed is the Doyle Owl, a concrete statue that has been continuously stolen and restolen since 1913.

3 Reed's reputation

Reed has produced the second-highest number of Rhodes scholars (31), for any liberal arts college, as well as over 50 Fulbright Scholars, over 60 Watson Fellow s, and 2 MacArthur ("Genius") Award winners. A very high proportion of Reed graduates go on to earn PhDs, particularly in the sciences, history, political science, and philosophy. Reed is third in percentage of its graduates who go on to earn PhDs in all disciplines, after only CalTech and Harvey Mudd. Reed is first in this percentage in biology.

Reed's debating team, which had existed for only two years at the time, was awarded the first place sweepstakes trophy for Division Two schools at the final tournament of the Northwest Forensics Conference in February, 2004.

Loren Pope, former education editor for The New York Times called Reed "the most intellectual college in the country."

4 Notable alumni

Reed considers any student who attended a semester or more at the college to be an alumnus. Reed's notable alumni include:

• James Beard (the chef)
• Dr. Demento (radio personality)
• David Eddings (writer)
• Barbara Ehrenreich (writer and social critic)
• Peter Norton (creator of the Norton Utilities)
• Emilio Pucci (fashion designer)
• James Russell (inventor of the compact disc).
• Gary Snyder (the poet)
• Howard Vollum (founder of Tektronix)

Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computer) attended Reed for only one semester.

5 Renn Fayre

Renn Fayre is an annual celebration at Reed College with a different theme each year. The Fayre commences with Thesis Parade, where graduating seniors make a symbolic march to deliver their theses to the registrar. The Fayre is three days long, running from Friday to Sunday. The Friday is the last day of regular classes for the spring semester. The following week is Reading Week, with no classes; the week after that, final examinations.

Essentially the whole campus goes crazy, with bizarre art installations, insect eating, occasional motorized couches, naked people painting themselves blue, and a general sense of mayhem. Renn Fayre originated in the early 1970s as an actual renaissance fair , but in later years lost its association with anachronism and became the tribute to crazy creative energy that it is today.

6 External links

• Reed College - official website
• Virtual Tour of Reed
• The Reed Nuclear Reactor website
• Reed College Institutional Research
• Reedie Journals - weblogs by Reed students
• Reed College LiveJournal Community
• The Gods of Reed - a story about Reed students

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