D
Very Litle Racial/Economic Diversity
My experience of Reed's diversity has been *very* different from what others have described here. As someone who attended an economically and racially diverse public school for high school, I was shocked by Reed's monolithic whiteness and Reedies' overall privilege. There are definitely exceptions, but the dominant culture at Reed is very much upper-middle class. Most students (in my experience) attended expensive private high schools, and the vast majority of American students there are from California or the Northeast. While Reed is definitely accepting of quirkiness, different sexual orientations, and social awkwardness (and there's something to be said for those things), it lacks in the departments of socioeconomic and racial diversity. While Reedies are, or try to be, accepting of most people, in such a monolithic environment privilege is sometimes not noticed or called into question, resulting, at times, in a weird, pretentious, ivory-tower culture. Reedies have a tradition of proudly boasting that Reed isn't a trade school, for example (and one went so far as to shout this during a debate over whether or not the school newspaper should serve as a means of gaining experience in journalism). Most Reedies seem completely unaware of the classism inherent in demeaning trade schools. It's a small example, to be sure, but it's indicative of the way Reed's lack of diversity sometimes creeps into the public dialogue without being challenged.