VOICING AN OPINION

If you speak out against drug use at Reed College, some students will
promise to murder you.

They'll threaten to drag you into court, stop you from writing for
the campus newspaper, make you feel forced to move out of your dorm
room, for your own safety. They'll harass you with phone calls, max
out your e-mail account with hate mail and threaten you with rape.

Speak out against drug use at Reed, and some students will do
everything they can to make sure your stay in college is as miserable
as possible.

And one other thing: Speak out against drug use at Reed College, and
163 students will thank you for addressing a widespread problem that
we need to stop ignoring -- not just at Reed, but on all college
campuses nationwide.

I thought my commentary ("The drug Olympics," March 1) would prompt
angry letters and a spirited debate; that's the sort of thing you
expect in an academic environment. What I didn't expect was to
encounter viciousness and ugliness.

Bodyguards began escorting me around campus. The Community Safety
Office told me to carry a whistle and a cell phone with me at all
times. I didn't go to the library or the cafeteria anymore, at least
not alone.

And this is not the first time an expression of opinion met hostility
at Reed. About a month ago, a reporter at the campus newspaper dared
to critique the student government's funding process. As a result, a
prominent student body officer screamed at the writer, threatening
her to point where she was afraid to leave her room. She will no
longer write about anything controversial.

Excuse me? What happened to freedom of the press?

According to some of my angry e-mails, the First Amendment doesn't
apply to Reed. All problems here need to be dealt with internally and
secretly. Nobody outside should be allowed to glimpse what really
goes on. "I don't think an accurate picture of Reed is what we
necessarily want," someone wrote me.

Please. Everyone should have the right to report the truth and
express an opinion. Free speech is fundamental to democracy and the
foundation of academia. It's something any decent school ought to
protect. If students want to get angry about something, let them get
angry about any infringements on the right of free speech.

To the college's credit, the administration and, after some prodding,
the student government, have now attempted to make it clear that a
gag rule here will not be tolerated. Both the college president and
the student body president have sent out letters saying they won't
put up with the threats I've received. I've been told that the angry
students have calmed down.

I can only applaud these civilized steps. And I want to make it clear
that I still believe in the ideals that have always made Reed a place
of open-mindedness and tolerance. Some students have acted
thoughtlessly, but I believe that, when they take stock of what they
have done and what it means, they, too, will begin to grasp the
importance of free and open debate on a college campus, without
threats, without fear.

Outsiders sometimes call this school Weed College, but to insiders
it's The Bubble.

A bubble is something that floats above the rest of the world. When
you look closely at its surface you see a rainbow of colors all
swirling around, in elegant flux; intricate, beautiful. But any
bubble is fragile, and a bubble can barely exist in an atmosphere of
thoughtless anger.

I've been away from Reed for spring break. When I return to campus
Monday, I hope that all Reedies will stand together to make sure that
our beautiful bubble doesn't explode.