Olde Reed is So Back: The Doyle Owl
Photos by Tucker R. Twomey
The Doyle Owl, Reed's unofficial mascot, is a several-foot, several-hundred-pound cement owl. It is a longstanding Reed tradition, and even has its own Wikipedia page. Every semester or so, the Owl is presented in a ritual known by various sources as the "Owl Fight," "Owl Showing," or "Owl Scrum." During this ritual, Reedies abandon their academic pursuits and let loose their pent-up violent urges by wrestling the Owl away from each other until one lucky group flees victorious and hides the Owl until its next appearance. The current Owl is one in a long line of concrete owls, dating back to 1920. Unlike the traditions I have covered so far in this column, the Doyle Owl and the rituals accompanying it have been relatively consistent since the time of truly Olde Reed. Olde Reed can't get much older than 1920, and the core elements of the Owl ritual have remained the same since its first few appearances.
The Owl's origin story, as told in Comrades of the Quest, is that residents of Doyle House (at the time simply Men's House F) placed a large stone owl on the roof over their dorm entrance before their annual dance. The owl then mysteriously disappeared and reappeared over Women's House D, resulting in a kerfuffle that was smoothed over by "an informal tea." According to alum William Helms 1923 in Comrades of the Quest, Men's House G, now known as Quincy, coveted the Doyle Owl but could not steal it away from its guards. However, they spotted a similar owl in the neighborhood perched on the gatepost of a nice house, and instead conspired to steal that one. However, "rumor had it that owl number two ended up in the bottom of the Reed lake," possibly because the Doyle residents did not want to be shown up. The stolen lawn ornament story is a commonly told origin story for the Doyle Owl, so it is possible that owl number two is the original. According to "Reed Traditions: The Doyle Owl" in the Quest, at some point a rival house "kidnapped nine Doyle residents" and held them hostage in exchange for the Owl, leading to a two-hour siege that could be considered the first Owl Fight. However, the "original" Doyle Owl has long since been replaced by a line of new cement owls, which often claimed to contain pieces of their shattered or lost predecessors.
According to "The Doyle Owl: A Study of Ritual At Reed," the thesis of Angel Dawn Angelina Dawson '83, the Doyle Owl is the center of a ritual referred to in the thesis as the Owl Showing. Using an anthropological definition of ritual, Dawson argues that Owl Showings increase Reed's social cohesion and confer a higher social status to current and former holders of the Owl. The Owl's origin story, Dawson says, is less important than the heroic tales of various Owl Fights, which establish the expected norms and behaviors during an Owl Showing. Dawson describes the message of an Owl Showing as "We have the Owl, we have had the Owl, captured in some heroic way and here is this extraordinary showing. Aren't we clever? Now it is your turn to try and match us." Winning, participating in, and witnessing Owl Fights confers a certain prestige.
Dawson's thesis argues that the Owl is so traditional both because of the legends around it and because it is a symbol that Reedies resonate with. Additionally, it comes from outside of Reed and thus maintains some amount of mystique. Dawson backs up this assertion with two examples, the Copper Owl and the FOB Sink. The Copper Owl was a cast of the Doyle Owl made of metal, which was circulating in 1983 since the "Real Fake," Dawson's term for the widely accepted successor owl, hadn't been shown since fall 1979. The FOB sink was a sink taken from the demolished temporary Faculty Office Building (FOB) that attempted to take the place of the Owl around the same time as the Copper Owl. The Copper Owl was somewhat recognized as the Real Fake as of the writing of the thesis in 1983, but the FOB sink never really caught on. Dawson speculated that the Copper Owl was a more worthy successor due to being Owl-shaped, and thus its origin could be molded into one that granted it legitimacy–eventually, the Copper Owl was said to have been made from a mold of the original Owl. Dawson argued that because the owl is the bird of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, a student body such as Reed's that prides itself on academic rigor sees it as a powerful symbol.
While many Owls have come and gone, the core elements of the Owl ritual have remained relatively coherent for over a century. The group in possession of the Owl reveals it in a suitably dramatic manner. Then, all other students are welcome to engage in acts of violence, theft, and dishonesty in order to gain the coveted Owl, which they will then hide in secrecy for up to a year before showing again. If the Owl is not shown for a semester to a year, students begin to get antsy. Dawson describes two social penalties for holding the Owl for too long: the creation of a new Owl, or theft of the Owl from wherever it is being kept. With that in mind, we haven't had an Owl Fight yet this year.
Comrades of the Quest: An Oral History of Reed College documents a variety of Owl Fight legends throughout the years. According to Ron Fox '64, at some point, twins Steve and Peter Haberfeld '63 got the Owl. They and other football team members pulled off several public Owl showings, during which they successfully fought off all challengers. After one of these showings, Fox and Dwight Read '64 broke into the Haberfelds' car, loaded the Owl onto Read's motorcycle, and drove off. Read then drove to LA with the Owl and filmed it inside a Seaworld tank. He then spliced the footage into a Friday night showing of The Golem back at Reed, where it caused an uproar because students had been expecting a proper Owl showing. According to "Reed Traditions: The Doyle Owl," the Owl has been shown in various locations, including Disneyland and next to Steve Jobs.
According to Kathleen Bucklin Davies '67 in Comrades of the Quest, John Davies '67 and Jon Bates '67 led a group that displayed the Owl from the Library balcony, and they had to hire a helicopter to get it down and into Davies' car. The Owl then hit the ground beside her car and cracked! In Comrades of the Quest, several Owl Fights at campus celebrations are mentioned. David Holinstat '78 stated that the Owl appeared during a Renn Fayre chemistry demonstration by professor John Hancock, leading students down into the heating tunnels to chase the Owl. Leslie Vickers-Jones '83 recalled the Owl being driven across the Great Lawn in a pickup truck during Thesis Parade, as students tried to climb into the moving truck to get the Owl. Brian Ruess '87 said that the "Society for Creative Anachronism" brought the Owl in during Renn Fayre softball with a helicopter, and Dave Conlin '88 drove a pickup truck across the field to unleash Owl warriors armed with water-only fire extinguishers, who blasted their competitors with water, stole the Owl, and drove it around Portland in their truck. All of these tales contain the essential elements of Owl Fight legends: a dramatic showing and students disregarding social norms and safety to get their hands on the Owl. According to Grace Mauk '26, "The Owl Fight is preferred to take place on the new admit tour day, as a way to show the undecided highschool seniors what they're really in for! Admin hates it, but honestly if they’re scared off by seeing the Owl Fight, they would have probably joined the ‘freshman flight’ of transfers anyway." Despite the secretive shenanigans surrounding the event, the Owl Fight actually enjoys widespread acceptance from the powers that be at Reed (perhaps not counting the Admissions Office), since the Doyle Owl appears on official Reed merch in the Bookstore and there are no attempts to stop the Owl Fight unless serious injuries occur.
"I prefer to call it an Owl Scrum," says Director of Community Safety Gary Granger, because the term implies a sporting event rather than actual violence. This use of a rugby term seems appropriate, since in recent years the Reed rugby team has often gone home with the Owl. Granger, who joined the college in 2010, noted that the Owl Fights have gotten shorter and less vociferous during his time at Reed. Community Safety Manager Dhyana Westfall ‘05 also noted that CSOs did not intervene in Owl Scrums from 2001 to 2005, but as cars became more involved, CSOs stepped in to separate humans and cars to avoid serious injuries. Granger noted that while the Owl Scrum is generally fairly self-regulated in terms of safety, there have been issues in the past. Mauk was stomped on and concussed as a freshman at the Owl Fight, which forced her to take a leave of absence for the rest of the semester. This is an important reminder that while Owl Scrums are super fun, it's important to remember that the Owl is ultimately a large chunk of concrete and not worth other students' health. Mauk later returned for a glorious victory in the 2024 Owl Fight, and reported that crushing her enemies in glorious Owl combat was "AWESOME!"
Granger mentioned that one year, the Owl was left near the Cross Canyon dorms wrapped in barbed wire, and he decided to intervene to prevent serious scrapes or puncture wounds. Westfall said that the Owl has been presented on fire and in a block of ice at various times. One year, it was placed on top of ODB, and Facilities rented a lift to remove it because they worried for the safety of the roof under the heavy owl. Granger reports that the CSOs subsequently "liberated" the Owl from the Facilities warehouse and released it back to the student body after a discussion about roof safety. According to Granger in the interview and Facilities Operations Manager Zac Perry in previous Quest coverage ("Owl Fever Returns to Reed"), Facilities is concerned that the Owl Fight often results in torn-up lawns, and Perry hopes that Owl-bearers will consult Grounds about the location of Owl Fights before releasing the Owl.
Owl Fights were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in March 2022. As covered in the Quest article "Owl Fever Returns to Reed," two Owls were shown at that fight. The first Owl was painted with rainbow stripes, and the second was painted navy blue. The rugby team prevailed over a group of freshmen known as "103" to take home the rainbow Owl, which they carried off in a Jeep. Paradox, the Russian House, and the Reed Reactor fought over the blue Owl, with large teams and getaway cars on standby. Various improvised weapons such as buckets of water and paint, condiments, and water balloons filled with lube were deployed at the fight. However, there were also some more worrying moments - some students brought whips, although they were never used, and Russian House's getaway car keys were stolen. At this point, CSOs got involved, and the keys were eventually recovered, and Russian House drove away with their prize.
In 2024, the Owl was set to be released on the Great Lawn late in the spring semester, and Facilities objected due to the proximity to graduation. At the scheduled time, Granger and Perry pulled up to the field. Not many students appeared, so Granger called for backup to claim the Owl in what he considers the CSOs' first legitimate Owl possession. He noted that a student, likely Julia O’Beirne ‘25 tried to keep hold of the Owl as the CSOs took it away, and the Owl was shown publicly, which makes it a more legitimate capture on the part of the CSOs than its liberation from the Facilities warehouse previously. Emily Yu '26, a Community Safety student worker, painted it to say "CSOs rule," and CSOs cut off a piece of rebar that was sticking out of the Owl for safety reasons. According to Westfall, painting the Owl wasn't typical during her time at Reed from 2001 to 2005, but at some point, possibly after a rainbow paint job for Pride Month, it became tradition. Later, a group of naked students with Voodoo Donuts negotiated the Owl's safe release from 28 West, on the condition that the Owl would be released on the grass field behind Trillium, not on the Great Lawn where graduation was to be held.
Cecile Szollas '25, a former Owl holder, shared that after the Owl Fight, the real challenge is getting the heavy Owl into a car and hiding it until the next Owl Fight. Granger suggested that teams hoping to acquire the Owl try using a soft stretcher to carry it. According to Dawson's thesis, the secrecy of the Owl between showings is critical, and even maintained among close friends of the Owl holder. Mauk agreed that stealing the Owl is fair game "as long as no laws are broken," so secrecy is imperative in order to hold on to the Owl for long enough to stage a proper showing.
Recently, posters declaring "WALT HAS RISEN/WALT IS GOD/PRAY TO WALT" have appeared on campus, with an image of an owl and a QR code leading to a Google Form that allows students to pray or promise sacrifices to a mysterious "Walt," who appears in some way connected to the Doyle Owl. Time will tell whether Walt will play a significant role in any future Owl rituals.
When asked why the Owl is such an enduring tradition, Szollas credited the many legends of the Owl, including the stories of fake Owls and the many audacious methods of showing it throughout Reed's history. Mauk added, "The more a valued tradition is cherished, spoken of, and kept alive, the more that love can raise up the community. In my mind, telling underclassmen the story of the Doyle Owl and generating a lot of hype around it is definitely a way to keep Olde Reed alive and well."
