Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

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"Humanities"


Farewell, Prof. Thomas Gillcrist

We are sad to announce that Professor Emeritus Thomas Gillcrist [English and humanities 1962–2002] passed away this weekend.

Prof. Gillcrist taught at Reed for 40 years, arriving in 1962 after earning his B.A. from Duke University and an M.A. from Harvard University. Over the course of his career, he garnered many national honors and earned the admiration of his students and colleagues for his potent intellect and good nature.  

Drawn to Reed largely because of the humanities program, Gillcrist was known for his brilliant Hum 110 lectures, like this one on the Oresteia. He taught courses on William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, colonial and postcolonial novels, and on the Bloomsbury group. He is remembered for his infectious enthusiasm for his subjects, abiding influence on his students' lives, and love of fast cars. 

Reed Alumni Go to Hell

Dante Alighieri, author of the towering Inferno.

President John Kroger and Reed alumni gathered in Prexy last week to discuss a burning issue—Dante’s Inferno.

Balancing copies of the Divine Comedy and glasses of wine, alumni listened intently as President Kroger shared his thoughts about this 14th-century masterpiece of allegorical verse.

Like many Reedies, Kroger read the Inferno in college. (It's currently on the syllabus for Hum 210.) Recently, however, he committed some leisure time to exploring not just Inferno but its two lesser-known companions, the Purgatorio and the Paradiso.

Reed Declares New Majors

Decisions, decisions. Reed has added a new comp lit major, plus two new concentrations: math-computer science and math-statistics.

The perennial sophomore’s dilemma—What should I major in?—just got harder.

In November, the faculty voted to broaden Reed’s curriculum by approving a new major in comparative literature, and two new concentrations in the mathematics department: mathematics-computer science and mathematics-statistics. All three tracks will be in place by fall 2015. (And it looks like a standalone dance major is also on the way.)

The mathematics-computer science concentration may seem like the most radical addition. After all, are computers really compatible with Reed’s emphasis on the humanities? The answer is a resounding yes. Reed has pioneered the use of computing in the liberal arts and sciences amid growing recognition that computer science constitutes a distinct intellectual discipline, bristling with unsolved problems, theoretical debates, and recursive paradoxes.

Pantheon to be robed, say organizers

Reed students dress as Greek gods outside humanities lecture in 2012. Nudity at a similar event in 2013 prompted a Title IX investigation. Copyright Reed College.

The students who play the part of Greek gods and greet freshmen on their way to the first humanities lecture—collectively known as the Pantheon—will keep their robes on next fall, organizers declared at a community forum held by the Honor Council last week.

“No one will be naked next year,” said environmental studies major Elaine Andersen ’16, one of the HumPlayers, the student group that puts on the Pantheon.

The event, which has been staged for the last five years, typically involves male and female sophomores and upperclassmen who dress up as Greek divinities on the steps of Vollum Lecture Hall and welcome freshmen to their first Hum 110 lecture. The gods ask for libations, and freshmen respond (if they’ve done their homework) by spilling a few drops of coffee or water on the ground, re-enacting an ancient Homeric tradition. “It’s supposed to be fun and silly,” one student explained.