READ THE EMAIL: Reed College Students to Hold Campus Meeting on Drug Use

Citing "tragic events of the past few weeks," Reed College President Colin Diver today encouraged his staff to attend a campus meeting Monday evening on drug use at the private school.

The April 5 meeting — which Diver's email says is sponsored by the group Students for Sensible Drug Policy — comes after two recent student deaths at the elite college. One of those deaths was a heroin overdose. It was the second such fatality in two years at Reed after the 2008 overdose death of freshman Alejandro Lluch.

As previously reported, Diver last year moved to beef up Reed's drug-enforcement plan.

Here's this morning's email from Diver:

Members of the Staff:

I know that the tragic events of the past few weeks have caused many of you to feel the same sense of distress and pain that are being felt by so many students, parents, and faculty. In particular, I know that many staff share my feelings of frustration and alarm about the use of dangerous drugs by Reed students, and you want to do something about it.

I have one specific suggestion. There will be a community-wide discussion of drug use and the honor principle, sponsored by a student group called Students for Sensible Drug Policy, on Monday evening, April 5th, at 6:00 pm in the Vollum Lecture Hall. I would hope that, if you can spare the time, you would consider attending, if only to get a better sense of how students feel about this issue.

Colin Diver