Inspired by the weekly electronic newsletter of happenings on campus . . .

  • Reed’s celebration of Black History Month in February included an impressive lineup of events highlighting the civil rights movement, African American art, and contemporary jazz. NAACP chairman Julian Bond kicked off the series with his lecture: “Civil Rights: In the Day, Today, and Tomorrow.” Next came a performance in Kaul Auditorium by legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston, followed by historian Robin D.G. Kelley speaking on “Jazz and Freedom Go Hand and Hand: Thelonious Monk Plays the ’60s.” Reed and the Portland Jazz Festival cosponsored a multimedia presentation on the history of jazz, and the art department mounted an exhibition of artwork by African American artist Jacob Lawrence, including his original silkscreen print Confrontation at the Bridge, from Reed’s permanent art collection.

    Audio of the Bond lecture is online. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported on Reed's arts outreach program to Portland public schools for Black History Month; listen to the story. View the black history month website.

  • Three Reed students came back to campus for the 2006–07 academic year with some real-world experience under their belts, as recipients of the Elizabeth Ducey and Fautz-Ducey summer internships in public policy. The internships provide students with a $3,000 stipend to work full-time in policymaking and issue-oriented organizations. Josh Riedel ’07, an English major from O’Fallon, Missouri, worked for the Roosevelt Institution, a national student think tank, heading the editorial staff and publishing the Roosevelt Review. David Colt ’08, an economics and English major from Cambridge, Massachusetts, worked for Economists for Peace and Security, monitoring activities at the United Nations in New York, and researching and publishing a paper on perceptions of risk. Daniel Toffey ’07, a political science major from Philadelphia, worked for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C., drafting policy papers and conducting opposition research in the lead-up to the November elections.

  • Inspired by a picture in Reed magazine of a couple that had just gotten married in Eliot chapel, Patrick Sullivan ’00 decided it was the perfect place to pop the question to his girlfriend, Peyton Marshall ’96, which he did just after the New Year. “I tricked Peyton into coming out there with a story about an art fair, and then I had to kick some scruffy-looking Reedies out,” Sullivan reports. “Peyton had no idea. She agreed, however, and I pulled out a concealed split of Perrier Jouet and the thing was done.”

  • Zac Perry, Reed’s canyon naturalist, reports seeing two mature coho salmon this fall in Crystal Springs Creek, which flows out of Reed Lake toward the Willamette River. Perry hasn’t seen salmon in campus waters since he started working at Reed in 1999, though he says alumni describe a time when the lake and creek were teeming with spawning salmon. Reed canyon provides some of the cleanest water for fish in all of Portland—in part because it is spring-fed. “The soil acts as a filter and pulls out any oil or impurities before it becomes Reed Lake,” he says. The recent sighting of salmon, as well as Pacific lamprey, confirm for Perry that the water passage from Reed to the Pacific is clear of obstructions, and that the fish ladder which was installed after Reed’s old outdoor swimming pool was removed is helping migratory fish survive and reproduce.

For information about events at Reed, go to http://events.reed.edu.