Reed College students and alumni are reeling from the recent news that campus security helped federal investigators find an alumnus last week, leading to his arrest at gunpoint.
The college’s Director of Community Safety’s willingness to hand over the alumnus’ full name, address and phone number — seemingly without a warrant or subpoena — counters the college’s reputation for inclusion and intellectual independence.
Reed College's Elliot Hall
Cacophony / Wikimedia
“It’s just so disappointing,” said Andee Gude, president of the college’s student government. “And I think this situation is just going to instill more fear.”
FBI investigators arrested Robert Jacob Hoopes, a 24-year-old Reed graduate, on July 25. Recently unsealed court records show investigators found help from the safety director, who tapped into a private database of students and alumni to retrieve Hoopes’ information.
The Department of Justice has accused Hoopes of throwing rocks at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Portland office at a June 14 protest against the federal government’s sweeping deportation efforts.
One of the rocks, DOJ prosecutors allege, hit an ICE agent in the head and caused a 2-inch gash over his eye. They also allege Hoopes used a stop sign to batter the building’s front door. Hoopes pleaded not guilty at a hearing July 28.
To many, though, the allegations against the recent graduate aren’t particularly relevant to the college’s handling of students’ and alumni’s personal information.
Reed College president Audrey Bilger published an open letter Tuesday saying school leaders quickly launched an investigation. Bilger’s email noted that the disclosure came “apparently without a subpoena or warrant.”
“Sharing someone’s information without a subpoena or a warrant is completely unacceptable,” said Katie Rempe, who leads the college’s alumni association. “If that’s what happened, then he cannot be trusted to be in that position.”
Reed’s website showed the security director to be Gary Granger. Attempts to reach Granger to discuss the events were not successful. An automatic email response said he is “out of the office.”
Granger’s duties have been delegated to other staffers in the meantime, Bilger said in the letter. She also noted that college leaders hadn’t known about what transpired until they read it in the news.
“Reed has established protocols and values, and we are initiating an investigation into this action and its impact on our standards and our community,” Bilger wrote.
Spokespeople for the college told OPB that the school doesn’t comment on an employees’ work statuses. They did not answer other questions including whether Granger was placed on leave and how college leadership knew that investigators had no warrant or subpoena.
Rempe credited the college for moving quickly to open an investigation. Rempe said she hasn’t had any direct conversation with Bilger or other college leaders about the situation.
“I’m glad that they took action immediately — and clear action against this,” Rempe said.
Reed College, which is private, is among the most politically progressive schools in the country. The Princeton Review this year ranked it the third most liberal college campus in the U.S.
The recent events come as higher education institutions continue to clash with the federal government, particularly U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to withhold federal money from universities unless they capitulate to scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion practices and curb pro-Palestine protests that he claims to be antisemitic.
Columbia University, also private, recently agreed to pay a $200 million fine after the administration threatened to scuttle federal grants over the school’s pro-Palestine protests in 2024.
The administration also rescinded a policy that limited immigration enforcement operations at so-called “sensitive” locations, like schools and hospitals.
In February, Bilger struck a defiant tone about threats to higher education.
“Reed has always been, and will always be, a place where rigorous intellectual inquiry flourishes alongside a deep commitment to diversity and the free exchange of ideas,” she wrote in a Feb. 27 letter. “Reed does not waver in the face of shifting political tides.”
This boldness added to the sense of whiplash when private alumni information was given to the government, students said. They said security staff are very active on campus and Granger knows many students on a first-name basis.
“He’s very important in shaping how community safety enacts its policies,” said current student Andrew Happy. “His actions can be presented as representative of how community safety is because he’s at the top of that division.”
Sima Fasihi, a student who is also an immigrant with U.S. citizenship, said she already worries the federal government could suddenly sweep away her right to be in the country. Reed was a bubble that gave a sense of safety.
“The email [from Bilger] that’s been sent out is probably being received by incoming freshmen who have no idea what’s going on and what the environment at Reed is going to be like, or what they will be introduced to,” Fasihi said. “It’s just going to be uncomfortable for everyone.”
Students and alumni have already started removing personal details from the private database, which acts much like a social network, they said. It’s password-protected and can help students find work opportunities and help alumni stay in touch.
“To just give [information] away to whoever he saw fit is a breach of trust in a serious way,” said student Alice Flynn.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated Hoopes’ plea in federal court.
