Well, hoots and huzzahs!
Congratulations—you’ve found the double-secret page devoted to the Famous and Mysterious Doyle Owl! What, you ask, is the Doyle Owl? Don’t touch that mouse...

Oft discussed but rarely seen, the Owl is an icon, a legend and a fond tradition of Reed College, having been, by various students and alums, stolen, moved, re-stolen, re-moved, etc., since the very beginning of the college. Or not. The legend is, shall we say, fluid. The facts are these (and please remember that any fact concerning the Doyle Owl was almost certainly made up in the wee hours by creative-if-sleep-deprived Reedies):

The original Doyle Owl statue (like all great works of art, there have been several forgeries) was stolen from somewhere (a local mansion? a downtown building?) sometime between 1913 and 1930 by the boys of House F, a residence hall eventually renamed Doyle, and now known, somewhat less charmingly, as Old Dorm Block. The House F boys (it’s safe to assume that the women of campus were rolling their eyes, as often happens) placed the stone or maybe concrete or possibly metal Owl on the roof of the dorm. Thus began a decades-long tradition of impressive ingenuity and resourcefulness in displaying, keeping and stealing the Doyle Owl. Had even a small percentage of all this effort been devoted to...oh well, there we shall not go.

Over the years the Owl and/or its copies (who’s to know?) may or may not have: been hidden at the bottom of the campus’ lake, thrown off a nearby bridge, resided in a locker in the Physics department, journeyed to San Francisco, visited Disneyland, swum in the shark tank at Marineland, been chained to the bottom of the Reed swimming pool, been stolen and hidden by a gang of 21 women (putting an end to eye-rolling), attended the investitures of Reed presidents, been shattered to bits, painted orange, painted blue, painted green, appeared in student films, appeared on MTV in a Tears For Fears video, and been buried under the library along with a rather dented MG sports car (but that’s another story).
There—now you know as much Owl lore as we do. Lucky you. Having materialized very recently at Reed reunions, chariot races and Renn Fayre—chariot races? don’t ask—we are reasonably certain that the mysterious Doyle Owl will make an appearance or two during your tenure on campus, should you wisely choose to attend Reed. (Of course, our lawyers tell us we can’t actually promise anything, owl-wise.) In any case, long live the Doyle Owl!

((Reed griffin page))
Since the earliest years of Reed, the griffin, or “griffon” (if you happen to be reading this in, you know, the 1700s), has been the central image in the Reed College seal.

A wingless bird with hairy feathers, the griffin—no, wait, that’s an apteryx. Sorry...a griffin is a mythological creature with the body of a lion and the wings, head and talons of an eagle, thus combining the swiftness and strengths of the noblest beasts of the air and the land.

Symbolizing a protector, the griffin was linked in mythology with Artemis, and with the sun god Apollo, whose golden chariot was pulled by a griffin. By thus hauling the light around, as it were, the creature also eventually came to be regarded as an enemy of ignorance.

Sadly, like all hot celebrities, the griffin suffered the inevitable bout of bad press, when, in medieval days, the church in Rome adopted the symbolic beast for its own purposes, using it to represent the devil carrying souls to hell. Other legends of the time, however, cast the griffin as a symbol of the divine. It is unclear whether this dichotomy caused any additional stress for the already-conflicted griffin (the whole bird-cat thing), but by the time of the Renaissance Grif was back on the A-list as protector of life’s treasures and enemy of ignorance.

It was in this guise that the griffin appeared on the coat-of-arms of Englishman Simeon Reed, who, with his wife Amanda, was the first benefactor of the college. And when, in 1914, the school’s seal was being designed, the griffin was the perfect choice to symbolize an institution that has always been an enemy of ignorance and a protector of the knowledge and intellectual freedom that are the treasures of lifelong learning.

((Welcome page))
Welcome to Reed’s virtual campus tour, which you can take with your shoes off. Come to think of it, you can take the real tour that way too, but your socks will get dirty. Click on the pooch to begin. To hear a message from Reed President Colin Diver that has nothing to do with socks, click here>

((“map” page which follows))
Click on a building above or a name below for info, or click on a ((blue circle)) for a 360-degree view.

((Hum 110 page))
All first-year Reedies take Humanities 110, an intense interdisciplinary study of classical Western philosophy, literature, history, religion and the arts. It’s amazing—and amazingly challenging. The weird thing is, you’re going to love it. Here’s a taste...

((Life on campus page))
Is it just us, or does every “campus life” photo in history show students sitting outside on the grass? Do colleges have no chairs? But we digress. Life at Reed can be as lively as you wish. Want to live in the library? Want to be involved in anything and everything? Whatever works. Here’s a cyber sample...

((Getting away page))
If you ever run out of things to do on campus, there’s a nice little off-campus entertainment center we like to call Portland and the State of Oregon. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Coffee, mountains, clean air, big on green? Go forth and play...

((Academics page))
This is why you come here: academic power, educational fire, intellectual life. Exceptional teachers and a passionate love of learning. Small interactive classes paired with very big expectations. Alumni who have changed the world. Click and learn...

((Events on campus page))
Play something, hear something, see something, do something. Repeat as necessary. Events and opportunities for diversion on campus include music, art, Reed theater, lectures, movies, sports and much more. And that’s only Tuesday. Check it out...

((Senior thesis page))
You think Hum 110 sounds hard? Reedies will testify: The senior thesis may well be the most challenging thing you will have ever done—certainly it will be among the most rewarding. It closes your Reed education; it opens an entirely new realm of what you can accomplish. Take a look...

((About the tour page))
A lot of very talented and dedicated people created this virtual tour, along with one or two who were just average. Allow us to detail our, um, gnomenclature...