Oregon's Reed College...and, in Universe Beta, the "University of Redwood"

“University of Redwood” exists only in cyber-space, the mutated virtual clone, or perhaps evil twin, of Oregon’s prestigious Reed College. The imaginary institution consists only of a website, which rips off most of the features of Reed College’s website, with pictures of Reed’s faculty as the imaginary “Redwood” faculty, photos of Reed alumni as “Redwood” graduates and even a parallel universe history of the school. Reed’s history section begins,

“Reed College was founded in 1908, and its first classes were held in 1911. Reed is named for Oregon pioneers Simeon and Amanda Reed. Simeon Reed had been an entrepreneur in trade on the Columbia River; in his will he suggested that his wife could “devote some portion of my estate to benevolent objects, or to the cultivation, illustration, or development of the fine arts in the city of Portland, or to some other suitable purpose…”

Coincidentally, “Redwood” has a very similar background, according to its site:

“University of Redwood was founded in 1908 and was operational in 1911. Redwood is named after the Oregon pioneers Simeon and Amanda Redwood. Simon Redwood had been an entrepreneur. He wished his wife to devote some portion of his property for the purpose of prosperity and happiness of the inhabitants of Oregon. Amanda Redwood then set up a board of trustees to found an institution of learning in Portland, with no limits other than an insistence on equality and secularism. In the ensuing years, University of Redwood has become one of the nation’s prominent institutions of the liberal arts and sciences.”

What’s going on here? Nobody is quite sure, though Reed is not pleased. It is trying to shut down the site and vanquish its virtual dark side, but so far, without success. News media attempts to track down the creators of the site have also been unsuccessful.

Reed College officials told The Oregonian that they think the “Redwood” site is part of a scam designed to collect application fees from Chinese students deceived into applying to the fictitious American school. The mail-forwarding account for “Redwood’s” Torrance, Calif., address routes to China, and the current theory is that there is a con artist in China representing “University of Redwood” admissions.

Or, in the alternative, parallel universes are collapsing into each other, and we’re all doomed…like on “Fringe.” I sympathize with Reed, but I certainly hope it’s just a scam.