 Reed's debating team, which had existed for only two years at the time, was awarded the first place sweepstakes trophy for Division II schools at the final tournament of the Northwest Forensics Conference in February 2004.Loren Pope, former education editor for "The New York Times," writes about Reed in "Colleges That Change Lives," saying, "If you're a genuine intellectual, live the life of the mind, and want to learn for the sake of learning, the place most likely to empower you is not Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, or Stanford.It is the most intellectual college in the country—Reed in Portland, Oregon."