To the Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Administration, and Board of Trustees of Reed College: DECLARE OURSELVES!
As concerned alumni, we strongly urge the College to adopt a strong, proactive strategy to respond to the unprecedented assault on freedom of speech and inquiry undertaken by the federal government. Their attacks on higher education are clearly aimed at controlling as much information content and flow as possible, so that objective truth and the free exchange of ideas are replaced by a single, (literally) dictatorial narrative.
We are now well past the point where “a call for constructive engagement,” such as the one the College signed in April along with hundreds of other colleges, can be expected to do anything but give the attackers more time to inflict damage. Reed and other colleges and universities need to vigorously defend what they do, how they do it, and how society benefits. To fail to defend would give some the impression that the attacks may be justified. A public declaration of resistance based on vision and mission—moral principles—is necessary.
The federal government’s fierce attacks on higher education (“radical left agenda,” etc.) are designed to destroy liberal education as one of the pillars supporting a functioning democracy. This is made abundantly clear in Project 2025, whose agenda the administration has been implementing with the support of Congress and the Supreme Court. Project 2025 aims to change who has access to higher education, how it is paid for, who can teach, and especially what can be taught.
Most members of the Reed community are aware of the general nature of the federal government’s attack and its threat to the principles that Reed represents. But our community needs to know how Reed is going to stand up for those principles so that we can provide our support. Therefore, a clear declaration from the College administration enunciating those principles is needed, together with a statement of how Reed will vigorously defend them.
Because there is strength in numbers, we believe that Reed College should play an important and visible role in defending higher education, and especially liberal arts education, in the public square. Most of the discussion in the amicus briefs that many universities and organizations filed in Harvard’s lawsuit concerned the key role that universities have played in knowledge creation, especially in science and medicine. The value to society of federally supported research is widely recognized, but the value of an educated citizenry has received much less emphasis in public debate. Reed is well positioned to lead by describing the benefits of educating people so that they know how to think critically, evaluate facts, and adequately consider diverse perspectives; these are essential qualities for effective participation in a democratic society.
In taking a leading role in uniting institutions of higher education, Reed might consider targeted strategies. But time is running short—the overriding need may be for acting quickly. The nature and intensity of the attacks appear designed to overwhelm before an effective resistance can be mounted.
Love Reed and all it stands for,
Molly O’Reilly ’64 (Sandpoint, ID), David Kanouse ’64 (Los Angeles, CA), and Jim Kahan ’64
(Portland, OR)