Reid Hall

Reid Hall is a complex of academic facilities owned and operated by Columbia University that is located in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. It houses the Columbia University Institute for Scholars at Reid Hall in addition to various graduate and undergraduate divisions of over a dozen American colleges and universities. For over a century, Reid Hall has served as a link between the academic communities of the United States and France.

Overview

In 1964, the property was bequeathed to Columbia University, and has since seen lectures by such notable French intellectuals as structuralist critic Roland Barthes, deconstructionalist philosopher Jacques Derrida, existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, cinema critic Michel Ciment, and Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of Le Monde. In addition to Columbia University, it currently houses undergraduate and graduate divisions of over a dozen American institutions, including:

Reid Hall (Miami University)

Reid Hall (1948–2006) was a dormitory at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio that housed about 140 students. However, it was not just a place where students lived. After a shooting occurred in 1959, the building became known as one of the most haunted buildings on campus. It was torn down in order to make room for the Farmer School of Business, but has been recreated within a set of buildings called Heritage Commons.

History

Whitelaw Reid

Reid Hall was named after Whitelaw Reid, a former Miami student from the class of 1856. Whitelaw later became a diplomat and a journalist. He also ran as vice-president of the United States with Benjamin Harrison in 1892. He died on December 15, 1912 and remained a loyal Miami Alumnus throughout his life.

A Murder

On May 9, 1959, two men began fighting within Reid Hall. The Resident Advisor, Roger Sayles, tried to stop the fight, but was accidentally shot in the process. The shooter then ran to Ogden Hall and took his own life just moments after the first death. Legend states that after Sayles was shot, he reached for a door leaving behind a bloody hand print. (Stories vary as to whether it was two hand prints or just one). Many students claimed that the hand prints refused to fade and were still visible on the wood. Other students claimed to hear men arguing loudly, but when they went to find the source of the arguers, no one was ever found....