Lewis & Clark College

While I don’t go here, my best friend did and we have spent all four years comparing and contrasting our times at University of Portland and Lewis and Clark respectively. Lewis and Clark is a beautiful (albeit expensive school). They place a huge priority on diversity and on developing we’ll rounded students (and they succeed more than other schools I’ve seen). Campus life is very relaxed and in general everyone tends to be really respectful. Classes are really challenging but also very useful and thought provoking. The food is meh but they have perks other colleges don’t such as the Pio, which is a bus that has a route with stops at the local supermarket, downtown Portland, and the bank. Overall, if you’re looking for we’ll respected and fun schools in the Portland area, I would highly recommend Lewis and Clark.

This review is for the campus bookstore only.
My husband and I were scrambling to find a high school graduation gift for his niece who is bound for Lewis & Clark College in the Fall. We set aside (more like chucked) the suggested gift ideas from
including vacation/​travel tour and camera, in favor of a thoughtful, practical gift that will (hopefully) make the college transition easier: a bookstore gift card. I suppose a vacation/​travel tour and camera could also be deemed as thoughtful but the end goal was to get a thoughtful gift without breaking our bank account.
To accompany the gift card we bought her a gray hooded sweatshirt with the college’s name in blue lettering (so she can blend in with the college crowd) and a scarf with orange fringe (because she likes scarves, duh). I’m sure she’ll enjoy the gifts and appreciate that we didn’t buy her a boring ‘ol laundry hamper (striving for coolest uncle and aunt of the year, people).
Brent who works at Shipping & Receiving assisted me over the phone and was very helpful and courteous. The order was processed and shipped via UPS Next Day Air the same day. Brent even e-​mailed me the UPS tracking information to get updates on the delivery which was immensely considerate of him: in my frantic state to ensure the items we were requesting were in stock, I forgot to request a copy of the invoice.
Excellent customer service. Very fast delivery and sturdy packaging.
Go Pios!

Regarding the chocolate orange cookies: The sugar sprinkles on top really brought it to the next level. The orange essence really compliments the decadent chocolatey flavor, and the chocolate chips added necessary moisture. I found this cookie– eating experience to be reminiscent of the chocolate-​oranges I found in my stocking every year during the holiday season. This cookie was not only tasty, but loaded with nostalgia. I will definitely be returning to the Bön — not just because I have a meal plan, but because of the promise of more scrumptious desserts.

Great school. Awesome staff. Beautiful grounds. The campus is pretty big and spread out over a large area without overcrowding. Its like being in a park and learning while your there. The food is done by Bön Appetit, The largest food provider in the world and yet the food is amazing. Fresh and local. Like less than 100 miles, local. Made fresh each and every meal. Kinda impressive for such a large company. Gotta feed the body and mind.

Four stars is based purely on the campus. Very serene and beautiful.

Pray tell: How does one go about rating his or her alma mater in a 1 – 5 star format? It seems so glib.
In one respect, my time @ LC was just about the most productive and fecund of my life. I devoured books all along the way, as Watzek belongs on several networks that ensure, if they don’t have it, they can get it for you. All the while I stayed incredibly busy, working 2 – 3 jobs on through to earning several degrees there. It’s been well over 10 years since graduation (!) & I miss terribly the physical & mental discipline of those days, however I certainly don’t miss the unending sleep deprivation that made it possible.
Mind you, the vast majority of the above noted reading/​learning was self-​imposed, & not the requirement of any professor there. It’s been said before, & I can only agree that you get out of a college degree precisely what you’ve put into getting it. There’s very little I achieved or learned @ LC that didn’t spring from this self-​directed, self-​imposed course of study. I see that one could achieve the same result nearly anywhere else, and that makes me VERY sad to realize.
It’s true that the LC undergrad population is littered w/​trust fund kids, & the surest way you can tell you’re talking to a trust fund kid’s that they bristle at the mere utterance of the term «trust fund kid.» You know, the exact same way you can tell you’re dealing w/​a Hipster: they bristle at the very mention of the word Hipster, & may even refuse to grant any meaning to the word «Hipster».This same litmus tests applies for the word «Liberal» as it turns out— if you’re talking to someone who can’t bring herself to grant any decisive meaning to the word «Liberal” — you may be very sure you’re dealing with… a „Progressive“.
I digress. I never held it against the „Trust Fund Babies“ their privileged status. After all, they were the only ones who could pay outright to go this elite little school. What was shocking and even horrifying was that I knew several classmates who graduated with $ 60 – 100,000 in debt, with no better job prospects than low level management, or, as the common „joke“ went, our Grads were Starbuck’s #1 supplier of entry level positions. So funny, it hurts to laugh. Like so many other LC grads, I had to turn right around & go BACK to college, in order to learn a marketable skill (rather than the usual grad school route, these days I get to be involved in overseas medical missions. Love it).
So I look back on the LC days w/​a bitter-​sweet savor. I remember the truly beautiful lower campus. There’s a tiny handful of friends I still keep in contact with, occasionally. Most of all, I remember the ubiquitous „Celebrate Diversity“ bumper stickers faithfully adorning nearly every Subaru or Volvo wagon, juxtaposed w/​the stifling intellectual & political snobbery of those who claimed to champion Diversity– to be sure, theirs was a peculiar diversity, that invariably seemed to run only skin deep. Don’t you dare even consider going out of lock-​step of the sheep herd groupthink! Don’t believe it? Ask any professor which presidential candidate they voted for in the past (5) election (s). Ask innocently why our common Judeo-​Christian heritage is anything BUT celebrated there. Ask them their opinion on intellectual or political diversity. My Sr. year, LC „won“ the title of Most Anti-​Religious College in America. This is bragging rights? This is tolerance, and respecting diversity???
A highly salient quote from Blaise Pascal’s „Pensees“, which I first read while @ LC all those years ago, is here dedicated directly to the above-​noted champions of „Tolerance“…
»…In truth, it is the glory of religion to have for
enemies people so unreasonable; and their opposition
to it so little dangerous that it serves on the
contrary to establish its truths…
And indeed, make them give an account of their
opinions, and of the reasons they have for doubting
religion, and they will say to you things so feeble
and so petty, that they will persuade you of the
contrary…“
As for my own (mostly vainglorious) endeavors @ LC, another quote, this from Augustine’s Confessions. I can think of no better Epigraph in homage to LC, as well as my time there:
«…And what did it profit me that I, the base slave of vile affections, read unaided, & understood, all the books that I could get of the so-​called liberal arts? & I took delight in them, but knew not whence came whatever in them was true & certain. For my back then was to the light…
«…Thou knowest, O Lord my God, because both quickness of comprehension & acuteness of perception are Thy gifts. Yet did I not thereupon sacrifice to Thee. So, then, it served not to my use, but rather to my perdition, since I went about to get so good a portion of my substance not for my own power; & I kept not my strength for Thee, but wandered from Thee into a far country, to squander it all upon harlotries.»

Maybe I’m a little biased and that’s ok, but LC is a pretty rockin’ place to work and our students are the best I’ve worked with. Tucked away in SW Portland amidst a natural preserve near Tryon State Park, LC is a beautiful campus filled with bright minds and globally focused individuals. If you’re looking for a private, liberal arts college that stands out from the mainstream, but not as far as Reed, then LC is definitely worth considering. Set up a tour with Admissions. Or if you’re looking for a wedding site, contact our Conferences and Events office.