Jimmy Freiberger ’26 awarded prestigious Beinecke Scholarship

Jimmy Freiberger, a rising senior studying philosophy and peace and global studies, was recently awarded the Beinecke Scholarship. He is Earlham’s first Beinecke Scholar since 1994.

As a Beinecke Scholar, Freiberger will have access to up to $5,000 over the next year for costs associated with visiting graduate schools. He will also have $30,000 towards his chosen graduate program. This coming fall, the Beinecke Scholar national director will visit Earlham to meet Freiberger and run an in-person info session on the program.

“When I applied for this scholarship, I didn’t expect to win,” says Freiberger. “So receiving this was a surprise and I’m just excited.”

Freiberger plans to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy. In addition to his Beinecke accomplishment, Freiberger was also recently inducted into Earlham’s chapter of Phi Betta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in the United States. While most students are inducted as seniors, some chapters elected a limited number of outstanding juniors. Jimmy was the only junior from Earlham College this year.

Freiberger was also recently selected to present at the 25^th World Congress of Philosophy in Rome.

“When I was going through the application process for the Beinecke, I talked about the type of ethics I would want to develop, an ethics to address homelessness,” he says, about his plans to continue his work both on and off campus with various social justice initiatives, particularly his work with the Richmond Housing & Human Rights Coalition.

“With them,” explains Freiberger, “the idea is that the info we have on homelessness now reveals things that need to change, but it also conceals certain things too. Richmond, in coordination with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, conducts housing counts every year to keep track of homelessness in the city. But those surveys only consider homelessness to be living on the streets. I never lived on the streets but I couch surfed. Is that not being homeless? What about folks whose homes are unlivable?”

Freiberger says he ultimately wants to create a new social understanding of how we view homelessness, to encompass more than just people living on the street, but everyone for whom their home or living situation has been disrupted.

“Given the opportunities I’ve had at Earlham, I feel almost obligated, as someone with my background, to pursue a Ph.D.,” he says. “Folks with my background don’t always get to experience what I’ve experienced, I feel privileged.”

Established in 1971, the Beinecke Scholarship Program was established by the Board of Directors of The Sperry and Hutchinson Company to honor members of the Beinecke family. The Board created an endowment to provide scholarships to exceptionally promising students; its program seeks to encourage and enable students to stay highly motivated and pursue opportunities available to them in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Written by Jay Kibble, writer/editor for Earlham College’s Marketing and Communications Office

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About Earlham College 

Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion foster a collaborative learning community that inspires and motivates students with transformative opportunities and experiences so they can become catalysts for good in a changing world. Located in Richmond, Indiana, Earlham is one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national liberal arts colleges and offers one of the top 20 classroom experiences in the nation, according to the Princeton Review.