I’m writing this article to investigate what we mean when we talk about the exclusion of non-community members at Reed. There are multiple contexts in which this occurs; in a conversation earlier this week with Community Safety, I learned that CSOs exclude people from campus nearly every day. The Community Safety internal directive defines these people as “any individual that is observed and/or reported as currently involved, or having been involved, in suspicious activity on, or in the vicinity of, Reed College property.” While students might not be aware of how tightly the borders are maintained on a daily basis, they may be more familiar with the exclusions that happen during dance parties in the Student Union.
In an email explaining that Reed students would be receiving wristbands for the Theme Reveal, which they were encouraged to wear in order to deter “crowd[ing the SU] with non-community members,” the phrase “non-community” was especially striking. The distribution of wristbands to students enrolled at Reed College through mailboxes seemed to suggest that community referred to applied to enrolled students but not necessarily anyone else. Given the likelihood that most of Reed, including the Renn Fayre czars, would not limit the definition of Reed community to only enrolled students, what follows is an investigation into the popular imagination of community by those who consider themselves part of it, as well as those who don’t.
Tackling the issue of community is relevant this week after a series of reactions regarding campus and potential exclusion from it. Following Beyoncé Ball over Paideia, some students expressed distaste at the number of non-enrolled persons who had been present. The added fact that some of these had been Lewis and Clark students prompted a debate about their presence in the Facebook group Reed Relieves, and the Pamphlette published a satirical piece from the perspective of a Lewis and Clark student who just wants to hang out.
The Night Owls also met after Beyoncé Ball to discuss possible compromises of safety brought about by non-enrolled students attending SU dance parties. I asked my fellow Night Owl Emma Williams-Baron ’15 how she interacts with partygoers who she thinks don’t go to Reed. “I sometimes keep a bit of a closer eye on them,” she explained. “I think that some people from off campus come to Reed because they have the idea that ‘Reed is a place where you can do whatever you want and not get in trouble.’ I think that’s a dangerous attitude, both for that person and the people their behavior might affect. I am sometimes a little more nervous about it because Reedies are always so welcoming of Night Owls, but I can never be sure of what to expect from non-Reedies who don’t necessarily have a sense of our community norms.”
Not understanding community norms might lead non-enrolled students, suggests Nick Fiore ’15, to cause Reedies discomfort. “It’s hard to explain how I tell the difference between Reed students and those who go to Lewis and Clark, but I think it had to do with respecting the space between dancers. Like, there was a guy dancing on stage clearly not respecting the people around him. I thought, ‘that’s not super honorable.’”
The issue of being made uncomfortable by non-enrolled students is distinguished by the fact that that non-enrolled students can be immediately asked to leave. Realizing this made me notice that there is currently no structured facilitation protocol or conflict resolution strategy between CSOs or Reedies and outsiders. “Because Reed has one primary purpose (being a college),” says Director of Community Safety Gary Granger, “we can limit any public access to people who are here for activities related to the ‘business’ of the college. If we have occasion to learn that someone on campus is not a community member, we will often ask why they are here. If they are found to be disruptive, we may ask that they leave.” Although there is no policy in place that describes a process for excluding non-community members, the CSOs operate under an internal directive that explains how CSOs ought to engage people. A link to the directive is footnoted here.1
Understanding who and what merits immediate exclusion is important on a campus that regularly asks strangers to leave. Granger says Reed is a relatively safe space and therefore an attractive option for visitors traveling from the rest of the city. Further, because the college is funded in part by yearly student tuition, one might raise the opinion that non-enrolled students should not partake in campus events (whether they are being disruptive or not) because they have not paid their dues. Community Safety, at least, doesn’t take that stance. Granger says, “Sometimes we get a call that a student doesn’t want a [non-enrolled] person around and we don’t do anything about it, because that person isn’t being disruptive.”
By having an open campus, Reed makes it clear that community does not only include currently enrolled students. However, if the attitude that a person needs to have “paid their dues” in order to be here surfaces, understanding who is welcome becomes complicated. Fiore says he “would define the Reed community as those who are here with an investment [financial and otherwise] in being here for the foreseeable future, and who are bound to the things that are decided by the people who are living and working here. The Honor Principle gives us the confidence and ability to negotiate with our community members and is based on the assumption that we are here to live and work. It is tough to talk about how this extends to those not in our community, or those formerly in the community…Can they really be the same sort of partner-in-dialogue if they don’t have a commitment to this place?”
I talked to Thaddius Lodge, a friend to many Reedies who has never been enrolled. He said, “I’m on campus a lot, but can’t think of a time when I was made to feel unwelcome. I’m not sure if that’s because people were ok with me being around or if it’s because they didn’t know I don’t go to Reed.” Elegantly dressed and comfortable sitting in the book loft, Lodge doesn’t stand out as a non-student. He plays in a few Reed bands and guesses that not many people even know that he isn’t enrolled. “People assume I’m a Reedie…but it’s related to how I dress.” When I asked Lodge the same question I asked Fiore—what makes someone a Reedie—he said, “A Reedie is an enrolled student or alumnus.” I asked him if that made him feel excluded to which he replied: “I can’t think of a time when I was made to feel unwelcome…I do feel a part of the community, yeah.”
The question of whether students think that the experience of being a Reedie includes certain rites of passage, so to speak, might be as relevant to where one comes from as with what they learn at Reed. I asked Kathryn Sackinger ’13 about the boundaries between Reedies and Portland residents, and she said, “I have no sense of there being a bubble,” She says she doesn’t understand why some people see such a stark contrast between Reedies and the rest of Portland. Sackinger grew up and continues to live in Portland, but says that she can “see how people without a secure sense of place because they didn’t grow up here might be more inclined towards having a closed campus.”
Stella “Lago” Jones ’13 disagrees with Sackinger’s assertion that the boundary between Reedies and outsiders is transparent. “There is definitely a separation between the Reed community and Portland.” Jones says of the exclusion of non-community members at Theme Reveal, “hearing Reed xenophobia makes me uncomfortable because it often feels like classism. It’s important to consider what we’re describing when we talk about people who aren’t welcome here.”
Is there a way for Reed, as a private institution on private property, to exist free of xenophobia? What does it mean to be welcoming while this power dynamic exists? “I can understand,” says Lodege, “why Theme Reveal would be a community event and why you wouldn’t want it to be a whole bunch of randos. Still, it’s possible to have an event not be exclusionary while also being exclusive. What it comes down is if you hang out here, and have friends at Reed, then you gotta understand the Honor Principle. Really, it’s just a good way to live your life—it transcends ‘being enrolled.’”