Reimagining the Meiklejohn Fellows Program

The History

Upon my acceptance to Amherst for the Fall 2021 semester, I was informed during the summer before orientation that I had also been selected as a member of the Meiklejohn Fellows Program. Named after Alexander Meiklejohn—an educator, innovator, philosopher, and advocate for liberal reform and First Amendment freedoms—the program honors his legacy. Meiklejohn served as president of Amherst College from 1912 to 1924. Born in England in 1872 and brought to the U.S. at age eight, he was educated in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and graduated from Brown University in 1893. He later earned an M.A. at Brown and a doctorate in philosophy from Cornell University. After teaching philosophy and serving as dean at Brown, Meiklejohn came to Amherst, and later helped establish an experimental college at the University of Wisconsin. He also worked in adult education in San Francisco and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously, in 1964.¹

The Meiklejohn Fellows Program is designed to advance equal opportunity for post-graduate success by providing robust career resources and support to Amherst students who are first-generation college students and/or come from low-income backgrounds. Through dedicated advising, workshops, peer-to-peer support, and summer internship funding, the program encourages students to participate in a year-long academic cohort beginning in their first year. Once selected, students retain their Meiklejohn Fellows Program member designation throughout their time at Amherst.²

I learned early on that the program was meant to help fund an internship I secured the summer after my first or sophomore year. My first real contact with the program was during first-year orientation, when a large white tent was set up on the first-year quad so new Meiklejohn Fellows Program and their families could meet over lunch. Beyond that event, I didn’t have much clarity on what the program actually offered.

It wasn’t until I booked my first appointment with the Loeb Center—something I had only vaguely heard of—that I began to understand how little I knew about professional development. I didn’t know how to write a resume. I didn’t know what networking was. But by sophomore year, I knew I needed an internship, and thankfully, I had Meiklejohn funding to fall back on when the opportunity I secured turned out to be unpaid.

To access the funds, I submitted an application confirming I had an internship and needed financial support. At the end of the summer, I completed a follow-up Google Form reflecting on what I had learned.³ After that, though, there didn’t seem to be a clear way to stay involved. The program had helped me once—but I still didn’t know how to dress for an interview, how to explain my high school job at Wendy’s on my resume, or how to navigate the hidden rules of the professional world.

The Loeb Center’s website offered helpful guides, and the staff were always kind and supportive. But each workshop I attended and each appointment I booked reminded me just how far out of the loop I really was.