An undated provided image of Eliot Hall and the Great Lawn on the Reed College campus.
Courtesy of Bruce Forster/Reed College
Reed College recently settled a pair of complaints from former students who said they were targeted and harassed for being Jewish. The college agreed to update its discrimination policy, implement new training for students, faculty and staff and appoint a coordinator for Title VI civil rights complaints, among other changes.
For a student perspective on the settlement, we’re joined by Reed Student Body President Andrew Happy.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed using AI and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Reed College recently settled a pair of complaints from former students who said that they were targeted and harassed for being Jewish. Without admitting any wrongdoing, the college agreed to update its discrimination policy, implement new training for students, faculty and staff, and appoint a coordinator for Title VI civil rights complaints.
We reached out to the college for comment, and they declined to make anyone available, saying that their long-standing practice is not to comment on legal matters beyond the public record. But we do have a student perspective right now. Andrew Happy is a student body president at Reed College. He’s about to start his senior year majoring in political science, and he joins us now. It’s great to have you on Think Out Loud.
Andrew Happy: Yeah, thanks for having me, Dave.
Miller: What can you tell us about the incidents that inspired the lawsuit against the college?
Happy: So these incidents, to the best of my understanding, happened in the fall of 2024. I was currently a sophomore at the time, and it emerged in the light of a previous semester of heightened student protest. There were several student groups that participated in encampments on campus in support of providing Palestinian humanitarian aid, particularly to other colleges around the state, and also just to raise awareness around Palestine and supporting Palestine. And unfortunately, in the fall, there were circumstances where in the midst of these protests, some students had targeted a particular Jewish student’s dorm. They’d ripped a mezuzah off of their door, broke it, and then a separate incident with the same student where rocks were threw through their window. That ultimately led them to decide to leave the school, as well as a separate student who left in addition, with the overall climate afterwards of those incidents.
Miller: And I should say that that student reported that someone threw a rock through an open window and struck her in the head.
What do you remember about the atmosphere on campus in the fall of 2024?
Happy: I think overall there was a lot of energy around organizing in general. We were ahead of the presidential election and there were certainly strong feelings surrounding that. But I think this incident in particular raised a lot of disappointment around students and the student body, particularly among students that I surround myself with. As someone who is a student representative, it doesn’t feel good to know that there were students on campus who felt so victimized and targeted that they didn’t feel comfortable to attend this institution and ultimately left.
But I think there was also a shared disappointment that these bad actors who targeted these students overshadowed a lot of the humanitarian support and advocacy work that was done concurrently with those protests. [They] really overshadowed a lot of the support that we were able to deliver both to Palestinian families and to other schools, supporting protests, raising awareness about Palestine.
Miller: Reed College, as I noted, didn’t admit any liability or wrongdoing in the agreement. Do you think that the school’s practices or policies played a role in these incidents?
Happy: I don’t know very much how these incidents played out at the administrative level. They’re not areas that I was welcomed into, just because they were handled among legal groups and senior college administrators. But at least in my own experience in collaboration with a lot of our senior college administrators, I think there is genuine care and concern in wanting to aid and support these students in the best abilities that the college is able to do. So it’s just an unfortunate situation where they were unable to fully provide that support without having to result to a legal settlement.
Miller: Well, let’s turn to this settlement. In the big picture, what’s your take on it?
Happy: So I think there’s both the good, and things that I would like some clarity on from college administrators. I think the individual we have coming in to serve as our Title VI coordinator, they’re a current staff member who serves as our Title IX coordinator. And in my experience and the experiences of other students I’ve talked with, she’s done a fantastic job in her role dealing with matters of discrimination and harassment at the Title IX level, and she’s really been a pioneer of our discrimination and harassment policy. So I have no doubt that she’s going to be a really great asset to the college with this amended policy.
At the same time, there’s some concerns that I share and that I’ve been in conversation with other students about in regard to the college’s affiliation and consultation with the Anti-Defamation League and having a consultant that is vetted by them to address matters of discrimination as it pertains to antisemitism. Particularly [concerning are] previous statements that the ADL has made regarding what they view as antisemitism and the blurring of lines between criticisms of the state of Israel as being considered antisemitic, and particularly targeting students of Jewish identity and Israeli identity – which, in my opinion, are two very starkly different things.
I, at least, am glad that the college has maintained a lot of that difference as well. But I think there’s a lot of lingering questions over what that’s going to look like in practice, and continued protest raising awareness about Palestine and providing humanitarian aid and assistance to Palestine, what that’s going to look like this coming academic year.
Miller: Let me make sure that I understand correctly what you’re saying. You’re worried about the possibility that the new policy may make it harder for people to protest against the actions, say, of the Israeli Defense Force or the Israeli government, because that will be seen as antisemitic?
Happy: Yeah, particularly as that’s been a view that in the past has been shared by the ADL. So, there’s some concerns that I’d just like clarity on from some college administrators. What’s that going to look like in practice? And how [is] the college going to maintain, at least in their written commitment, that there’s a difference between criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government, the IDF, and actual targeting of students based on Israeli or Jewish identity?
Miller: We just have a minute left, so this is maybe an unfairly huge question, but you’re a political science major. I’m curious how all of this has affected the way you think about political debate in our country going forward?
Happy: I think it’s indicative of a broader trend where we’re experiencing a heightened level of polarization. I think there’s a lot more room to dwell on the nuance of both, yes, there are students who have been innately harmed by antisemitism that has emerged after October 7. But also at the same time, sometimes that has been weaponized to silence Palestinian protest, and aid and support for Palestinian groups as well. There’s just not a lot of room for that nuance in a lot of political discussion, and I think that’s largely upsetting and harmful.
Miller: Andrew Happy, thanks very much.
Happy: Yeah, thank you.
Miller: Andrew Happy is about to start his senior year at Reed College majoring in political science. He is the student body president.
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