Thesis Christ: Kes Vounzi Traces Reed’s Evolving AOD Policy from Cocaine Pools to CSOs
Deserved or not, Reed’s reputation for having a strong drug culture is well-known in the off-campus community. Kes Vounzi’s thesis seeks to understand how this reputation relates to the college’s drug policy in practice. Vounzi, a Spring/Fall Sociology major, investigated the established guidelines and practical enforcement of Reed’s Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Policy over time, drawing from archival sources and interviews with community members.
Vounzi’s own experiences at Reed drew her to explore the college’s policies for her thesis. “Once I became a sociology major, and also being on J-Board and having my own experiences at the college in terms of seeing the relationship to how they do certain things, I think that definitely made me want to look at the college on a more sociological level,” said Vounzi.
In her interviews with faculty and staff, Vounzi gained insight into the storied past of drug culture at Reed. She uncovered how the Birchwoods used to be known as shooting galleries for the heroin use there, as well as one striking story of a kiddie pool full of cocaine in the SU. Yet, more surprising perhaps than this history of drug use is the fact that the AOD policy is actually enforced today.
Vounzi shared that many CSOs in the 2000s adopted much more permissive attitudes in their enforcement of the AOD policy. Moreover, this openness toward drug use was something many students specifically advocated for. In more recent years, Vounzi found that Community Safety under the current Director of Community Safety Gary Granger has become more active in AOD policy enforcement, with the ultimate goal of student safety in mind.
Researching the history of the AOD policy at Reed has given Vounzi a new perspective on Community Safety. “I’m not saying I appreciate Community Safety, but I think I appreciate the work that they do in terms of trying to keep students safe and their philosophy they have now and how that differed from their philosophy under a different director,” Vounzi explained. “Seeing a very different time and learning about that and seeing how Reed is now, I can definitely see how different this place used to be and the steps the college took to get Reed to where it is now,” said Vounzi, also noting “how that isn’t really talked about or publicized because we still have this reputation for being a school that does a lot of drugs.”
Post-graduation, Vounzi will start work at a nonprofit, while she also plans to study architecture at Portland State University’s post-baccalaureate program. Vounzi plans to apply her background in sociology to these endeavors, explaining, “I feel like sociology is all around us and a lot of the things I do in the future will definitely be connected back to it.”