Digital Commons Network^™

In Re Adoption Of E: First Amendment Rights And Religious Inquiry In Adoption Proceedings, Francis J. Scanlon

Maine Law Review

The New Jersey Supreme Court decision, In re Adoption of E, represents an effort to define what considerations are to be given the religious beliefs of prospective adoptive couples in the screening process of the adoption courts. The majority opinion is emphatic in spelling out what courts cannot do. In overruling the lower court's decision, it was held that the first amendment prohibits the denial of a couple’s adoption request solely because the court disapproves of their religious beliefs. Though holding that a couple's religion cannot be a controlling factor in an adoption denial, the court did not see religion …

Maine's Public Labor Law, Ronald D. Russell

Maine Law Review

The latter half of the last decade saw a rapid increase in activity on the part of labor organizations formed by public employees in Maine. This activity received an impetus from an opinion of the Attorney General and from a Legislative Research Committee Report based on the Labor Relations Act of 1941. Through different methods of reasoning both documents concluded that public employees had the right to form labor organizations, but neither document defined the relationship between these employees and their public employer. Although the activity of these organizations was evidenced by the formation of agreements with municipalities and by …

China In Africa: A Critical Examination Of Its Peacekeeping And Peacebuilding Activities, Earl Conteh-Morgan, Patti Weeks

Journal of African Policy Studies

The objective of this analysis is to examine and critically assess the peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts of China in Africa generally. In other words, what level of support does China provide to African peacekeeping efforts? What is China's rationale for engaging in peacekeeping and peacebuilding in SSA? What is the nature of its activities in those areas? What does it emphasize in its peacebuilding and peacekeeping activities?

Due Process And Supremacy As Foundations For The Adequacy Rule: The Remains Of Federalism After Wilbur V. Mullaney, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

Stillman E. Wilbur, Jr., was found guilty of murder by a jury in a Maine Superior Court and appealed, contending that the trial judge's instructions violated due process. In essence, the trial court instructed the jury that if it were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Wilbur had committed a voluntary and intentional killing, malice aforethought was presumed, and therefore, the defendant would be guilty of murder unless he established by a preponderance of the evidence that he had killed in the heat of passion upon sudden provocation, in which case the jury could find him guilty of manslaughter. The …

Reproductive And Sexual Autonomy In Hillary Jordan’S When She Woke, U. H. Ruhina Jesmin

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper uses the content analysis method and theory of reproductive politics to explore how state-sponsored reproductive policy criminalizes reproductive rights and erodes sexual autonomy in Hillary Jordan’s 2011 dystopian novel When She Woke. The novel depicts a future world in which abortion is criminalized and a genetic technology called “melachroming” is used by the federal government to violate the human rights of the main character, Hannah Payne. The fundamentalist interpretations of religion, coupled with political agenda and public policy, equate abortion with genocide, thus criminalizing the act and punishing women with a genetic alternation of skin color. These …

Navigating High Seas Jurisdictional Challenges: Recommendations For Addressing Legal Authority Of Incidents On Cruise Vessels, Yichi Zhang

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper examines the current investigation and jurisdiction challenges of cruise crimes on the high seas. The jurisdiction is split into four conditions, including flag state, victim state, suspect state, and coastal state. These conditions face systematic complications and a lack of conductive efficiency that increases the rate of criminals fleeing, bringing challenges from the jurisdiction, social insecurity, and international relations perspectives. This research assesses the current criminal cruise risks on international waters and the upward trend of perpetration reports, including missing individuals, sexual assaults, and murder cases. This article also introduces three alternative policies: sharing incident information and offering …

Board Of Trustees Minutes, May 7-8, 2025, Coastal Carolina University

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Administration, Governance And Advancement Committee, May 7-8, 2025, Coastal Carolina University

Board of Trustees Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Youth Participation In Local And National Development In Ghana, Ca. 1620–2013, Ransford Gyampo, Franklin Obeng-Odoom

Journal of African Policy Studies

While there has been a long tradition in development studies on analyzing types of participation and their effectiveness, the idea that participation is not stationary, but that it can evolve with variegated experiences, is relatively unexplored. This paper takes up the challenge of showing how participation in development planning can change, the role of underlying institutions, and the implications of evolutionary participatory development for policy making. It uses a critical postcolonial approach and zooms in on the role of the youth in development planning in Ghana. It knits together the diverse processes and dynamics of youth participation in postcolonial Ghana …

The Inescapable Ideology: How Third Cinema And Afrofuturism Can Change The Future, Daniel Silver

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther films brought the genre of Afrofuturism to a mainstream audience. Afrofuturism seeks to reclaim a past that was stolen by Western colonial and imperialist powers; because that past has been erased, it must be imagined in fiction. Afrofuturistic stories are then used to address issues in the present and look towards a better future. This paper examines how those stories are told using the words and symbols of the dominant ideology in society. It uses Althusser’s theory of Ideological State Apparatuses, Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony, and Solanas and Getino’s understanding of the Third Cinema movement, …

Building Layered Defenses To Reduce Illegal Gun Violence, Samuel Kan

Arkansas Law Review

The government and stakeholders in society must act within their span of control to eradicate excessive and illegal gun violence. It is not surprising that a majority of Americans “say gun violence is a very big problem in the country[,] . . . they expect the level of gun violence to increase[, and] . . . it is too easy to legally obtain a gun” in the United States. This Article tackles this politically charged issue and recommends specific strategies for the government and stakeholders in society to reduce unlawful firearm violence and its harmful effects. At the heart of …

Judicial Interpretations Of Emancipation: Comparative Analysis Of Antebellum Court Decisions In The Slaveholding States, Evan Matthew Gelobter, J.D.

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

This article examines judicial interpretations of emancipation laws in the antebellum South, focusing on Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. It investigates how courts enforced and occasionally challenged legislative restrictions on manumission, revealing the judiciary’s dual role in both preserving and, in rare cases, moderating the institution of slavery. Through a comparative analysis of landmark cases, the study highlights the tension between statutory mandates and judicial discretion, illustrating how legal frameworks reinforced racial hierarchies while occasionally permitting emancipation under narrowly defined circumstances, such as relocation to free states or foreign territories. The article demonstrates that courts consistently prioritized …

Week Of May 6, 2025, Student Life

College, School and Department Newsletters, Magazines, and Journals

Your weekly hub for events, resources and updates.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 5/6/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Disrupting Monotony, Elias Mendez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

At the start of this project, I was confronted with a range of global issues that revealed the harsh realities many regions face in securing basic human needs, particularly shelter. One issue that stood out to me was the housing crisis in Mexico, where low-income families often struggle to afford homes while also meeting essential needs like food and clothing. Many of these homes are poorly constructed due to strict budget constraints and are built in such close proximity that both private and communal spaces are sacrificed in favor of maximizing land use. This often results in rows of identical …

Vacant Voices - An Architectural Response To Spatial Neglect, Logan G. Handwork

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Vacant Voices explores how architecture can confront and reverse urban neglect by transforming long-abandoned land into civic space. Centered on the vacant lot at 3rd Avenue and James Street in Seattle—left undeveloped for over 20 years beside City Hall—this thesis investigates how public spaces can reflect the priorities of a government and the voices of its people. Through literature from Charles Wolfe, Rem Koolhaas, and Margaret Crawford, the project builds a theoretical foundation around everyday urbanism, adaptive reuse, and spatial justice.

The methodology incorporates case study analysis, expert interviews, and iterative prototyping. Precedents such as Zuccotti Park, Boston City Hall …

Empow{Her}: Architecture As A Tool For Healing, Dignity, And Collective Power In Underserved Communities, Miciah Norman

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis investigates the role of architecture as a catalyst for empowerment, healing, and social transformation within underserved communities, with a specific focus on the lived experiences of Black women. Empow(her) centers Black women as co-victims — individuals who are often forced to carry the emotional and economic weight of losing loved ones to gun violence, a crisis perpetuated by systemic neglect and ineffective gun legislation. These women, frequently overlooked in policy and design conversations, navigate generational trauma in environments that fail to support their healing or acknowledge their pain. Through the lens of feminist, trauma-informed, and justice-oriented design, this …

Washington State Bar Licensure Task Force Subcommittee On Ethics/Character Fitness Report And Recommendations, Brent Williams-Ruth

Seattle University Law Review Online

The Washington State Bar Licensure Task Force’s Subcommittee on Ethics/Character and Fitness (the Subcommittee) was created at the behest of Brent Williams-Ruth, the representative selected by the President of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA or the Bar) to represent the Board of Governors on the Bar Licensure Task Force. His interest in modifying the Character and Fitness process took root after meeting Tarra Simmons during her experience with the Character and Fitness Board. After the WSBA Character and Fitness Board recommended that Simmons’s application to sit for the bar exam be denied, the Washington Supreme Court reversed that recommendation …

How Do African American Women In Halfway Housing Perceive Their Experiences With Mental And Emotional Rehabilitation, Eiyana Middleton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After reviewing the literature, Black women living in halfway housing needed more culturally accommodative and responsive access to mental health care. Despite recent efforts to improve the access and quality of mental health services for Black Americans, some of the most common barriers that continued to exist include and were not limited to the following: stigma associated with mental illness and distrust of the health care system. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand Black women’s perceptions of their mental and emotional rehabilitation while living in halfway housing. The hermeneutic phenomenology theory was most appropriate as it …

Police, Prisons, Communities, And Courts: An Examination Of Criminal Legal System Responses To Neurodivergence, Rhys Miller Evans

Theses

Mental health in the United States is largely stigmatized and overlooked as a factor of crime. This capstone project critically analyzes the response of actors in the criminal legal system to neurodivergence and identifies areas for improvement.

Part One focuses on how police respond to those with mental health conditions and community-based supports that can reduce harm during these interactions. This chapter provides an overview of the prevalence of neurodivergence in the United States and how police are, or are not, trained to protect and serve this subset of the population. It explains the Memphis Model of crisis intervention and …

Development Of A Method: Expressive Arts Therapy As A Means Of Transformation For Incarcerated Individuals And Carceral Institutions At Large, Morning Amani-Roe

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis examines the transformative potential of expressive arts therapy within carceral settings as an alternative to punitive approaches. As the United States maintains the highest incarceration rate globally with high recidivism rates, this research proposes rehabilitation through creative expression rather than punishment. This study details a six-week pilot program at Whatcom County Jail incorporating dance/movement therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, and visual arts with incarcerated individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. The curriculum focused on nervous system regulation, emotional awareness, relationship-building, and conflict resolution through experiential learning. Qualitative observations revealed three key outcomes: increased emotional vulnerability, improved impulse control, …

The Slice / Revitalizing Space For Bushwick's Creatives, Nadabya Lorick

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Bushwick has an underlying heritage of being a vital, diverse, energetic neighborhood. Declining infrastructure, fragmented social networks, and a lack of attention to residents’ needs have contributed to the area’s struggles. Despite these challenges, the neighborhood’s vibrant street art culture has emerged as a powerful force for renewal, fostering a sense of identity and drawing widespread appreciation. Reconfiguring a person’s relationship with their existence in Bushwick, NY, sits at the intersection of the wider well-being of humans, which includes intrinsic elements and more social interaction. This looks like repurposing buildings to highlight Bushwick’s unique blend of historical heritage, artistic energy, …

Trump’S Lies: An Examination Of The Fictitious Perception Of Latin American Immigrants As Violent Criminals, Sophia A. Esposito

Honors Scholar Theses

Trump’s presidency created a heightened scrutiny of immigrants, specifically Latin American immigrants, as his initiative focused on building a wall on the Mexico-US border. Trump’s extreme xenophobic speech was disseminated by the media, influencing the public to perceive Latin American immigrants as dangerous individuals responsible for violent crime. This is despite Latin American immigrants committing crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens. Further, his presidency continued the American criminalization of immigration as he enacted punitive and discriminatory policies and legislation. This thesis expands on previous scholarly work by examining the impact Trump’s anti-immigrant messages had on the media and public …

The Effectiveness Of Postincarceration Reentry Programming In Fostering Community Reintegration For Women, La Shawn B. Kelley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Identifying gaps in reentry programs for formerly incarcerated women is challenging due to the lack of evaluations that include the perspectives of the transitioning women on which components most effectively support their reintegration. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of transitioning women who received reentry services, in order to assess program effectiveness in community reintegration and inform future interventions. The research question for this study was, how do women served by Organization A’s reentry program describe the program’s effectiveness in preparing them for community reintegration after incarceration? To answer the practice-focused research …

Capstone Final Report: Coal To Nuclear – Nuclear Power Solutions, Owen Horiagon, James Russell, Thomas Scorpio, Nate Segar

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Projects

This project focuses on repurposing the retired Brayton Point coal plant into a next-generation clean energy facility by integrating a small modular reactor (SMR) to power a 250 MW AI data center. The purpose is to demonstrate a sustainable and technically sound solution that addresses both the rising demand for computational power and the need to decarbonize legacy infrastructure. Our objectives include designing and validating the NuScale SMR process, ensuring reliable integration with existing site assets, maintaining strict safety and licensing standards, and achieving zero net carbon emissions. The scope of work encompasses the complete system design, site retrofit planning, …

Evaluation Of Phenotypic Antimicrobial Resistance From Bacterial Pathogen Isolates In Bison, Aleena M. Kallan

Honors Capstones

Bison, the American buffalo, are increasingly utilized for food consumption due to their high protein content. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important food-borne pathogen that leads to severe clinical infections and becomes antimicrobial-resistant (AMR). Specifically, fluoroquinolone antibiotics can complicate human treatment when infected with resistant STEC. This study aims to determine the presence of STEC in bison reservoirs and their antimicrobial resistance. Fecal samples (n=320) from bison herds were collected, followed by specific culture-based isolation for STEC. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed for pathogen confirmation, with 25.6% prevalence. PCR targeting gene, gyrA (resistant to fluoroquinolone), was tested …

Defining Deference: Impacts Of Abandoning Chevron On Emerging Technology Governance And Administrative Law, R. Aubrey Davis Iii

Seattle University Law Review

Emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), often lead to unforeseen legal outcomes. Notable abuses in areas such as facial recognition, employment bias, and housing discrimination are well known. However, legislative responses to these issues either have been largely reactive or there has been no legislative response at all. In lieu of legislation, agencies have sought to fill the gap. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed a rule mandating voter notification for all AI-generated political phone calls citing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 as authority. However, the TCPA was originally passed to curtail telemarketing, not …

Public And Private Police And Their Impact On Crime: Evidence From American Universities, Cruz K. Marquis

Honors Capstones

This study quantitatively assesses the effect of fully deputized private police (FDPP) on nine measures of crime on 770 American university campuses over thirteen years. Building on the analysis of FDPP found in Stringham (2015), this study offers a public choice analysis of the incentives resulting from private ownership, positing that officers serving in such systems face systemically different incentives than their public counterparts, leading to a more vigilant and consumer-focused security posture. This increases the likelihood that criminals will be apprehended, which thereby reduces the expected utility of criminality, leading to fewer such instances. By building a unique dataset …

Your Data, Modern Times, And The Fourth Amendment: What Would Jefferson And Orwell Do?, Sterling, Ken

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

The ongoing challenge of balancing individual data privacy with the government's need for user data through national security efforts has long plagued courts and policymakers. This tension intensifies as technology advances, permeating daily life, and global uncertainty fuels government demand for additional data. This study explores this tension by examining the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures in the context of user data obtained by the government through third-party providers. I argue that the Fourth Amendment provides a sufficient framework to balance these competing interests. While acknowledging the government's responsibility for national security, we contend that this does …

Transforming Criminal Justice Leadership With A Servant-Oriented Trauma-Informed Approach, Janina Cich

Forensic Scholars Today

This paper explores the transformative potential of a criminal justice leadership model by integrating principles of servant leadership, emotional intelligence, and trauma-informed care, focusing on rebuilding community trust, improving officer well-being, and fostering equitable, empathetic public service. This transformative module emphasizes humility, accountability, and emotional awareness to address the deep-rooted effects of trauma on both criminal justice personnel and the communities they serve. Through proactive strategies, such as open communication, cultural competence training, and mental health support, future leaders can cultivate resilient, community-focused agencies prioritizing healing, justice, and human dignity.