Reid Arthur: Where is He Now?

By: Ana Imes

Illustrated by: Carla Cieza Espinoza

George Fox University (GFU) alum Reid Arthur continues to participate in the Newberg community, as a citizen now.

After graduating from GFU in 2020 with a B.A. in Theatre, Arthur moved home because he couldn’t afford to get a new apartment during the pandemic. “It was wonderful . . . being back with family . . . my little sisters were like 10, so it was a really good time to be home.”

Still, Arthur felt like he had unfinished business in Newberg. “I didn’t explore a lot of Newberg during school, but in my senior year I started working at Chapters, which was a really great way to get to know community members who are not affiliated with Fox . . . I had a job up there, and so many friends, and community, so I moved back.”

Arthur is still trying to figure out his relationship to GFU as an alum. He is still on campus occasionally and helped build the set for the 2021 fall production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

He does not approve of recent changes at GFU.

“I do not like the direction that I think the university is going,” Arthur said. “I think it’s unfortunate when a learning institution starts behaving like a business institution.”

Arthur understands that GFU needs money to keep the doors open, but he thinks resources are being misplaced. “Taking out liberal arts classes at a liberal arts school is a very bad idea. The pattern of teachers that have been let go has been super disappointing. Regardless of the reason why those teachers were let go, it’s not a good look for George Fox, and it’s not very supportive.”

Arthur has noticed a “clear and palpable change” in university culture. “There’s a difference in attitude that feels more assertive and aggressive than the Quaker roots I felt when I started in 2016,” he said. “The George Fox that I started with is not the same George Fox today.”

Arthur has also changed since coming to GFU. “The people and the mentors I found at Fox challenged every belief I had . . . All the pieces explode and then you start picking up one by one things that you believe to be true.”

This period of discovery culminated during Arthur’s senior year, when he came out publicly as gay in a performance of Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” in a student lip sync battle in 2019. He described the event as “a declaration about myself, and a way to get it out to as many people as possible and rip it off like a bandaid.” Arthur wanted coming out to be on his own terms, and “a celebratory and joyous matter as opposed to this shameful or fraught disclosure.”

“Plus, I’m a show pony,” he added.

He had no idea how the student body would react. “The standing ovation and cheers from the audience alone was not what I expected. I fully expected tomatoes, and ‘boo, get off the stage,’ and maybe a few slurs.”

“All the sudden, I had . . . queer kids at Fox who were also closeted and who weren’t closeted, alumni, parents and community members of Newberg, and people not from Newberg who had seen the video messaging me and . . . telling me their story. Even months after the lip sync, people would see me out and about and be like ‘you’re the kid from the lip sync.’”

Arthur said this had a huge impact on him. “I felt so alone at Fox . . . I was on a campus full of people who were not of my same experience and I thought they would react negatively to my authentic self.” Instead, many people showed up as allies. “It was literally the most incredible thing that has happened,” Arthur said.

Arthur described the aftermath of his lip sync performance as “overwhelmingly positive,” but many awkward moments also followed. “I also felt very very exposed and vulnerable, and I felt like everyone on campus looked at me differently, and there were people who would literally walk to a different sidewalk and not look me in the eye.”

He also “had people show up to my workplace and . . . put me in a corner and make me explain myself to them . . . I had so many reactions that were not appropriate and not okay and made me feel very uncomfortable.”

Now, though, when Arthur runs into people who don’t share his beliefs, “no one is hostile to me, everyone is very sweet.” He continued, “I’m . . . comfortable in my own skin and feel that this is my space as much as anyone else’s, and I get to see so many people who love me for me.”

Public recognition helped Arthur integrate further into the Newberg community. “I got my job because of lip sync, I met a ton of people . . . The connections that I’ve gotten to make and the people that I’ve gotten to meet and the opportunities that I’ve had to help this community have all come out of that,” he said.

For example, Arthur was involved in the early stages of Table 14, and became a signature-collector for the Newberg school board recall efforts through his job at Pollinate Flowers. Now, he is putting on an inclusive community production of “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder.

When Arthur is not working at Pollinate Flowers or preparing for the “Our Town” production, he enjoys binge watching old seasons of Survivor and listening to Taylor Swift’s new albums. He would “risk it all” for Jeff Probst and described himself as a “Swifty through and through.”

To those who are just now joining the Taylor Swift fan club, Arthur asks, “Where were you in 2016? Let the record show that Reputation is still her best album. Hot people get it.”