Alexander Meiklejohn

Alexander Meiklejohn (; 3 February 1872 – 17 December 1964) was an English-born American philosopher, university administrator, educational reformer, and free-speech advocate, best known as president of Amherst College.

Background

Alexander Meiklejohn was born on 3 February 1872, in Newbold Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, England. He was of Scottish descent, and the youngest of eight sons. When he was eight, the family moved to the United States, settling in Rhode Island. Family members pooled their money to send him to school. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and completed his doctorate in philosophy at Cornell in 1897. At Brown, he was a member of Theta Delta Chi. From 1912 to 1923, Meiklejohn served as president of Amherst College. He was a cofounder of the School of Social Studies in San Francisco, founded an institute to advance human rights and peace law through legal research, education, and advocacy, and named it Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (MCLI), with Meiklejohn's permission. In 1945, Meiklejohn was a U.S. delegate to the founding meeting of UNESCO in London. He was a notable proponent of the link between freedom of speech and democracy. He argued that the concept of democracy is that of self-government by the people. For such a system to work an informed electorate is necessary. To be appropriately knowledgeable, there must be no constraints on the free flow of information and ideas. According to Meiklejohn, democracy will not be true to its essential ideal if those in power are able to manipulate the electorate by withholding information and stifling criticism. Meiklejohn acknowledges that the desire to manipulate opinion can stem from the motive of seeking to benefit society. However, he argues, choosing manipulation negates, in its means, the democratic ideal. Eric Barendt has called the defense of free speech on the grounds of democracy "probably the most attractive and certainly the most fashionable free speech theory in modern Western democracies".

Awards

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) established the Alexander Meiklejohn Freedom Award to honor his work. The University of Wisconsin–Madison's Meiklejohn House (home to the Integrated Liberal Studies program) continues to espouse the ideals of Meiklejohn's experimental college by engaging students in interdisciplinary liberal education. The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was deeply influenced by Meiklejohn's pedagogical philosophy during its founding and maintains many of his central principles today. Meiklejohn Fellows Program at Amherst College is a unique program reserved for first-generation and/or low-income students. The program provides dedicated advising, programming, peer-to-peer support, and summer internship funding.

Books

Meiklejohn wrote books from 1920 to 1960:

The Liberal College, 1920 Freedom and the College, 1923 The Experimental College, 1932 What Does America Mean?, 1935 Education Between Two Worlds, 1942 Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government, 1948 Political Freedom: the Constitutional Powers of the People, 1960