Residence Life
Welcome to the residence life home page. Our goal is to provide a welcoming and supportive environment with space for each Reed student to pursue individual academic and social interests. Residence Life is committed to creating a safe, positive, and welcoming community for all expressions of gender identity, sexualities, race/ethnicities, cultures, religions, nationalities, abilities, and ages for students living on and off campus.
Students are housed on-campus among 5 distinct areas in 17 different buildings. Each area, building, and floor develops its own community and personality.
We hope you find these pages useful. Please explore them and share your recommendations with us. We also hope that you will take the time to visit our office so that we may get to know you.
Fall opening of new “green” dorms!
The Office of Residence Life is pleased to announce the fall opening of four new residence halls: Bidwell House, Sitka House, Aspen House, and Sequoia House on the north side of campus at the edge of the Reed canyon. Each of the three-story buildings will house 25-35 students, split between single and divided-double rooms.
These new buildings are designed with sustainability in mind, and are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. The project’s “green” features include landscaping that filters storm water runoff into a natural spring; ventilation stacks built to resemble chimneys that will cool the buildings naturally; and an array of environmentally sensitive materials such as flooring, window glass, and roof tiles.
For returning students still looking for housing for the fall…
We have a few rooms available in the new dorms, as well as rooms in some of the other dorms on campus. For a list of available rooms, please contact our office. We can be reached via phone at: 503/777-7536, or email: res.life@reed.edu, or you are welcome to stop by our office, located at 28 West (near the corner of SE 28th Avenue, and SE Steele Street).
Living on Campus
First-year students are encouraged to live on campus to establish a firm social and academic network at Reed. Our residences are more than places to sleep or hang your clothes. They are places to learn about yourself and others, to meet a variety of people from all over the country and world, and to be exposed to different cultures, ideas, and points of view. Student life in all residences is guided by the honor principle, which promotes self-governance and encourages students to be respectful of one another and of all community members.
The campus has living space for almost 800 students. After the first year, students who wish to remain on campus participate in a lottery held during spring term. Because of the variety of housing options, the modern amenities, and the convenience of living on campus, many returning students choose to do so.
Reed's 18 residence halls form six distinct building clusters that vary in style, size, atmosphere, and purpose. A student may request an all-women's floor where the restrooms on the floor are for women only. All other restrooms in the residence halls are not gender specific (non-gendered).
Room options include singles, doubles, and a few triples. Most first-year students are assigned to live in a divided double: two rooms, separated by a wall and door, giving each student his or her own private room to use as a living area. Divided triples are similarly arranged with three separate rooms. A few open doubles feature one large open room that two people share.
Although the buildings vary in size, they are all divided into smaller living communities with 10 to 28 students. Each of these communities has a social room with cozy furniture and a microwave. Generally, the social rooms also have a full or partial kitchen.
All campus rooms are networked for computer and telephone connections. In addition, many residence halls have a laser printer for student use. Some of the other amenities include coin-operated laundry facilities, televisions and VCRs, recreational equipment, indoor bike storage rooms, and student storage rooms.
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