Alexander Meiklejohn

Alexander Meiklejohn (/ˈmiːkəlˌdʒɒn/; 3 February 1872 – 17 December 1964) was a philosopher, university administrator, educational reformer, and free-speech advocate. He served as dean of Brown University and president of Amherst College.

Meiklejohn was born in Newbold Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, England of Scottish descent, being 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 his bachelor's and master's degrees at Brown, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and completed his doctorate in philosophy at Cornell in 1897. At Brown he was a member of Theta Delta Chi.

In the same year, he began teaching at Brown. In 1901 he became dean of the school, a position he held for twelve years. The first-year advising program at Brown now bears his name. From 1913 to 1923 he was president of Amherst College. After being asked to resign from that position, he proposed to open a new, experimental liberal arts college. He was unable to develop adequate funding for creating an entirely new school, but he was invited by Glenn Frank, new president of the University of Wisconsin, to create the Experimental College there, which ran from 1927 to 1932. He then moved to Berkeley, California and founded the School of Social Studies in San Francisco, an adult education program focusing on "great books" and American democracy. His books span the period from 1920 to 1960. He died in Berkeley, California in 1964.

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