Student government at Amherst College was first instituted under President Julius H. Seelye in the fall of 1880. Seelye wished to put into practice theories he had long held that undergraduates should be presumed mature enough to be responsible for their own behavior and that of their classmates. The "Amherst System," as it was called, placed a large measure of control in the hands of the College Senate, consisting of ten elected representatives from each class. Its primary responsibility was for settling matters of "college order and decorum." This included considering cases of objectionable behavior such as hazing and academic dishonesty. A case in the early 1880s involving a student who had been expelled from Amherst for hazing resulted in a student protest which was eventually referred to the Senate, which voted to reinstate the student. According to Cornelius Patton (AC 1883), this was believed to be "the first case of student self-government in any American college." However, the Amherst System -- always more impressive in theory than in practice -- was suspended in the 1890s; throughout the 20th century student government seems to have gone through waves of enthusiasm and derision.

Other functions of the Student Council included overseeing student organizations and sponsoring events.

[Source: Fuess, Amherst: The Story of a New England College (Boston: Little, Brown, 1935), 220-222.]