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REED REACHES
OUT WITH HUMANITIES PROGRAM
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HIP graduates with the program’s
faculty and staff. Left to right: Anthony Williams, April Stoor, program
coordinator Caitlin Baggott ’99, Lora Lafayette, Gary Cobb,
Lajazian Williams, professor of English and humanities Robert Knapp,
Tony Richardson, Maile Lumsden, assistant professor of history and
humanities David Garrett, professor of English and humanities Pancho
Savery. |
This spring nine Portlanders aged 21 to 50 celebrated
their successful completion of Humanity in Perspective (HIP). This is the
first year of the program, a joint project of Reed and the Oregon Council
for the Humanities that is designed to give low-income adults a chance to
study humanities. Free classes are taught by members of the Reed faculty.
The program was fashioned after the Clemente Course in the Humanities, originated
in 1995 by writer Earl Shorris. For one Portland
student, this course was his first school experience since he dropped
out of the seventh grade in 1972. Graduates were nominated for the program
by organizations that included Write Around Portland, a nonprofit organization
bringing free writing workshops to disenfranchised communities throughout
Portland; Better People, an organization providing life and employment
skills to adults returning to the community from prison; the Cascade AIDS
Project; and the Youth Employment Institute. All of the graduating students
hope in the next year to begin or return to college, where their HIP classes
will count for college credit. Two students improved their level of employment
during the year, and one gained new employment.
One student said when asked to evaluate the program: “I talked about
the Bill of Rights and Declaration with my children because I want them
to grow up knowing about these documents. I want people to remember what
seeds this country grows from.” Another said that “The best
part about the course was finding something from the past that still held
true in my present-day world.” And one student confessed that “One
of the professors helped me understand what I thought was impossible.”
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