emma111

The post about the student who overdosed on hard drugs is only one reason some parents are reluctant to send their kids to Reed. They've also heard about suicides, the high stress environment, the high drop out and low graduation rate.

Tetra

This event is tragic, but it would be unfair (and incorrect) to generalize to a "drug problem" at Reed. This was the first time I'd heard about a student doing hard drugs, and that would have been sufficient to shock me by itself.

I haven't heard of any suicides, and the article linked to on the post you refer to mentions that it's the first time a student has died on campus in 15 years (although I suppose it's possible there may have been a death off campus...?).

On the other hand, I don't think many would dispute the high stress environment (and the effect it has on the drop out rate). The environment, though, is also very supportive, professors know you personally and will work with you. That being said, know what you're getting into.

Most students I know find Reed to be a truly wonderful place.

TrinSF

I agree with Tetra. The death is very sad, but it's not somehow indicative of a terrible problem; it's the only death in more than 15 years. We cannot know what forces were acting on that student, if it was a preexisting addiction, if stress was involved, or anything else like that.

I'm a parent with a freshman at Reed, and I don't regret encouraging him to attend. While he's sometimes felt stressed, he's also felt supported by his peers, his professors, and the administration.

emeraldkity4

From what I have read, men and women in their early adult hood, have a disturbing rate of alcohol use, drug use, reckless & impulsive behavior .

Reed college, does not attempt to be parents, the way that some institutions attempt to control behavior by adults that don't infringe on another's rights.

When I heard about a freshman, having a glass of wine with dinner in the commons and not being hauled out, I wasn't surprised.

I hear about other schools where students are expelled for going to the hospital to deal with overdose or depressive thoughts. Where other students are afraid to take their dormmates for help, because they don't want them to get " in trouble', where students are watched over by administration and staff- but because they haven't learned earlier to monitor their own behavior, as soon as ' the college' back is turned , they run hog wild.

Higher Education Center: Alcohol and Other Drugs on Campus-The Scope of the Problem <meta name="keywords" content="binge drinking">

I think it is telling that the student was new to the college.
Students who get the ethos of Reed, of the honor code & responsible adult behavior, don't generally OD.

My daughter did choose a subfree dorm freshman year ,she chose sub free, because she hoped that a dorm without substance use, ( she also comes from an alcoholic background & one reason why she chose Reed was that she wanted a school where alcohol use wasn't de rigueur )would be quieter, than one with freshmen who were excited mom and dad weren't around to tell them when to go to bed or what to have for breakfast, including beer.

But as i have mentioned earlier, we live less than 200 miles away, we visited ( our whole family or just I and her sister who is 8 years younger), 4 or 5 times a year, including the beginning and end of the school year , since 2001.
We have gotten to know the area, our daughter still lives in Portland & while I recognize there is a huge drug problem in Portland, especially meth, the side of Reed that I have seen has left me impressed with the intelligence and support of the community.

TrinSF

I think emeraldkity has excellent things to say about this.

By the way, for those of you who have been accepted and have parents concerned about this, the Reed admissions office has a program where parents of current students provide contact information so that parents of accepted students can talk to a parent and ask questions. You probably got a letter about this recently, or you can call the admission office and they can give you some names. If your parents have concerns, or if you're a parent worried about this or anything else, I urge you to contact the admissions office and ask about that.

They aren't special rah-rah parents or anything -- they ask everyone to participate. They're parents just like the ones on CC.

Crispin

There is no "drug problem" at Reed. I transfered to Reed from a large university and honestly I don't think Reedies do any more drugs than students at most other schools. Because the school gives the students so much freedom, you'll see kids smoking pot out in public, whereas at other schools they do it hidden away in their dorm rooms - and this feeds the popular notion that Reed's full of drugs. But a large portion of the student body doesn't even smoke pot. I personally only smoked it only a few times there, as did a lot of my friends.

I never saw hard drugs at Reed, and only knew of one guy who was rumored to do heroin. Other things - marijuana, psychedelics, various pills - were around, and there was a fair amount of experimentation. But if these are any more abundant at Reed than most other schools, it isn't by much.

laughable

Most drug users, alcoholics, chronic depressives, those ridden with anxiety and insomnia, and a slew of other mental illnesses are highly intelligent. Reed attracts highly intelligent youth. Drug abuse and suicidal ideations are not unique to Reed in any way, except for the fact that a higher concentration of bright people challenging themselves intellectually is virtually guaranteed to produce an elevated number of substance-related difficulties.

With this in mind, the support networks of the school are extraordinarily perceptive of the health issues facing such groups of students. Highly trained and extremely caring community members make the stressors of Reed bearable for the enormously vast majority of students. Beyond this, of course, a culture of self-responsibility encourages personal evaluation of the effects of one's behavior upon herself and her community.