Animus And Heightened Scrutiny: A Way Out Of The ‘Dead End’, Steve Sanders

Texas A&M Law Review

Laws or government actions that are grounded in animus rather than proper public purposes violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. This principle arises from four canonical cases decided by the Supreme Court between 1973 and 2013. These cases remain good law. Yet in the past decade the Roberts Court has given scant attention to the animus doctrine, and lower courts appear to be in a muddle about how to use it. As a result, the animus doctrine has reached what one prominent scholar calls a “dead end.” The animus cases are often described as exhibiting a more skeptical, more …

“When I’M Not Heard, I Feel Like I Don’T Matter”: Advancing Equity In Disability Policy Through Critical Participatory Action Research With People With Intellectual Disability, Cris Marchionne

Student Theses

People with intellectual disability deserve a system that offers flexible, timely, and person-centered support — one that is innovative, sustainable, and holistic in enabling them to live fulfilling lives. This qualitative study, grounded in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), examines how people with intellectual disability experience participation in decision-making within New York State's disability service system. By centering lived experience, the study identifies factors that facilitate or hinder participation in decision-making and examines structural, social, and policy-related barriers that limit agency. Through six focus groups and a Photovoice project with self-advocates receiving OPWDD services, participants described systemic barriers that limited …

Review Essay: The New Misogyny And The Rise Of Violent Extremism, Shannon Smith

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: The Original Sin Of Humanity, John Sniegocki

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: African Americans, Sudan, And The Politics Of Solidarity, Walter Hill

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Rights Of Religious Minorities In Sudan: A Case Study Of Armenians, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines the constitutions of the Republic of Sudan and minority rights, with a focus on Armenians in that country.  It provides (1) the demographics of Sudan; (2) an overview of the Armenians of Sudan; (3) a history of Sudan’s constitutions; (4) an analysis of their provisions and related laws on minority rights, citizenship, naturalization, and inheritance; (5) an overview of Sudan’s civil war, which began on April 15, 2023, and (6) a concluding section which analyzes risks to Armenians and other religious and ethnic minorities in Sudan.

A Catalyst For Change: The Extraordinary Anaka Women’S Collective During The June 2026 Belfast Pogrom, Dianne Kirby

The Journal of Social Encounters

Prompted by the pogrom that erupted in Belfast in June this year, this article explores how a women’s collective, Anaka, established by female asylum seekers, refugees and migrants (ASRMs) less than a decade previously, took the lead in ensuring the safety and welfare of the city’s migrant communities in a context where they were horrifically failed by police and politicians, by the state and the institutions meant to protect them. Anaka began as a small-scale endeavour to mitigate the difficulties confronting women struggling to navigate a harsh asylum system. It became a widely respected advocacy and campaigning group for ASRMs. …

Operation Metro Surge In Central Minnesota: A Personal Perspective, Pedro A. G. Dos Santos

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay provides a personal account, grounded in social science intellectual traditions and methods, of Operation Metro Surge and its aftermath in Central Minnesota. Emphasizing the differences between what happened in Central Minnesota (and other rural areas in the state) and what happened in the Twin Cities Metro area, this essay focuses on two events to contextualize the ways in which Operation Metro Surge disrupted the lives of immigrants and of the Minnesotans trying to protect their neighbors.

Iterative Computational Ethnography, Digito-Vernacularisation, And Transcultural Policing In The Global South Asian Communities: An Emergent Research Agenda For Transdisciplinary Hate Studies, Sandhya Irina Fuchs

Socio-Legal Review

This Article proposes a new transdisciplinary agenda for global hate studies by connecting previously separate debates in anthropology and criminology. It draws on ongoing ethnographic and computational research, which investigates how Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) hate speech originating in India facilitates distinct forms of ethnic and religious exclusion in the United Kingdom and South Africa - two Indian diasporic centres that have recently witnessed escalating Hindu-Muslim conflict in markedly different ways. The Article aims to answer the following question: what forms of transdisciplinary dialogue and conceptual innovation must social scientists engage in to understand how local cultural, legal, and historical factors …

Making Noise Through Law: Indigenous Legal Mobilisation Against A Power Plant In “French” Guiana, Pierre Auzerau

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In so-called “French” Guiana, or Guyane, the Kali’na village of Atopo Wipi has fought for years against a hydrogen power plant being built on their land. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2024 in Guyane and Western Europe, where I collaborated with various stakeholders to support Atopo Wipi’s resistance to the power plant, my research focuses on the legal dimensions of the Kali’na’s struggle to protect their land. Specifically, this article examines how the Kali’na navigated different normative frameworks, including international human rights standards and French law, to fight the project. Through this analysis, I show how the …

Incorporating Principles And Wisdom From Hospital Chaplaincy And Pastoral Ministry To Create A Ministry Model To Address Social Isolation And Loneliness In Black Churches, Albert A. Kemp

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

To address the growing and widespread epidemic of social isolation and loneliness, with special focus on Black churches, this dissertation developed a program with the following areas of application: 1) how healthcare trained chaplains can coordinate with churches to positively impact individuals identified as lonely and socially isolated with better social and physical health, 2) how principles of chaplaincy and pastoral care can mitigate and intervene competently when such people are identified, and 3) how the project’s model can be organized, taught, and incorporated into existing arenas of church ministry.

The purpose of the project was to create a ministry …

"For Their Effectual Exclusion": Oregon, Racial Exclusion, And Citizenship In The Mid-Nineteenth Century, Riley M. Littleton

Honors Theses

In light of Oregon’s admission to the Union as the only state to receive congressional approval with a racial exclusion clause in its constitution, this project seeks to examine the constitutional and cultural thought that ultimately led to the stamp of approval on the thirty-third state. In the past, Missouri had attempted a similar maneuver, seeking to bar free Black Americans from entry; Congress had not allowed it, believing that the provision violated the U.S. Constitution’s Privileges and Immunities Clause. This project investigates what changed congressional opinion between Missouri and Oregon’s respective times.

In researching contemporary literature to understand local …

Pussy Protest! Protest Zines To Uplift Marginalized Voices, Alekz Nelson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

A publication of 4 separate zines made up of 12 pages each. The zines delve into the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act, trans women and their music artistry, lack of lesbian media, and inmate working conditions. These zines aim to not only raise awareness towards these issues, but spark action from readers by providing practical and doable options to pursue. With societal attitudes and political administrations becoming more conservative, spreading this information and awareness is vital to ensure that these alternatives ways of life are not forcibly erased.

Disney's Illusion Of Inclusion, Marissa Davis

All Theses

Walt Disney’s films were not simply entertainment, but a use of racial stereotypes as a profit strategy. Even scholarship that explores these tactics and critically analyzes his most problematic misrepresentations do not to consider the role of Walt Disney, as a man, in creating and promoting these narratives. These depictions, while somewhat in line with the culture when he first entered the business, failed to evolve as society changed. Rather, they were deliberate choices to attract white audiences and increase revenue.

Over time, these tropes became socially unacceptable, yet Disney maintained them for public consumption. While Disney and his company …

The International And Comparative Aspects Of United States V. Skrmetti: The Detrimental Rise Of Anti-Trans Sentiment In The United States, Julia Parrey

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

In recent years, anti-trans sentiment has significantly increased in the United States. This Article examines the legal advocacy by the LGBTQ+ community that laid key legal groundwork for basic protections through landmark US Supreme Court decisions like Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges and analyzes how recent judicial and legislative actions signal a dangerous reversal of that progress.

The central analysis focuses on the consequences of United States v. Skrmetti, where the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors by applying rational-basis review, concluding that the law classified based on age or medical diagnosis, rather …

Columnas: The Honors Program Newsletter At Bentley University, Amanda Li, Wilson Jan, Michael Raphael, Alexandra Rieckehoff, Karina Wu, Michael Shehata, Nilufar Noorian, Eloise Weintraub

Honors Program

INSIDE THE MODERN WORLD

Page 2: Stepping Out by Amanda Li

Page 3: Inside the Corporate Slop Bowl by Wilson Jan

Page 4: The Silencing: An Evaluation of the Global Attacks on the Right to Protest by Michael Raphael

THE SOUND OF CHANGE

Page 5: The Social, Cultural, and Economic Impact of Bad Bunny by Alexandra Rieckehoff

Page 6: Streaming Changed Music, But Is It Fair to Artists? by Karina Wu

Page 7: Feeling the Music: How Haptic Wearables Are Changing the Way We Experience Sound by Michael Shehata

SHIFTING SYSTEMS

Page 8: The Story Behind Davos, One of the …

Rhetorical Violence: The Rhetorics Of Women's Counter Political Violence, Kylie Rowland

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Protest is omnipresent, and yet not much is known about the efficacy and impacts of its different rhetorical strategies—particularly so for marginalized populations, whose available means of protest are already limited by both material realities and assumptions that govern who and what can make waves. This bind is further exacerbated by gendered and racialized civility politics that determine which bodies can be disruptive and which already are considered “violent.” To address this gap, I turn toward the under-researched rhetorical potentials of marginalized people’s—specifically women and queer folks’—use of symbolic protest “violence,” which works to strategically make evident the larger ongoing …

Review Of Manufacturing Employees’ Experiences Of An Inclusive Workplace And Career Advancement, Abdi Mahad

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Engaging Thomas Merton: Spirituality, Justice, And Racism, Paul Pynkoski

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Ella Baker & The Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Vision, Danny Duncan Collum

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Dating Among University Undergraduates Living With Disability In South-Western Nigeria, Usman A. Ojedokun, Bukunmi I. Oluborode, Lateef J. Adeyemo

The Journal of Social Encounters

In many university campuses in Nigeria, undergraduates living with disability are visible and functionally involved in academic, political, social, and religious activities. However, the social life of these students is hardly the focus of scholarly research. Therefore, this study explored dating behaviours among undergraduates of selected public universities in south-western Nigeria living with disability. The social disability model was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were elicited through in-depth interview and focus group discussion methods.  Findings showed that the choice of partners among undergraduates living with disability was guided by trust, communication, emotional safety, shared values, and acceptance of disability …

Where Are The Women Memorialized? Commemoration Of Women In The U.S. Congress, Deborah Saki, Alexander Leasure

The Journal of Social Encounters

In the United States, a study of the memorialization of political actors through monuments reveals the disgracefully small number of women memorialized. We find little effort to preserve the memory of trailblazing women in the U.S. Congress. By 2021, as the National Monument Audit indicates, only two congresswomen were memorialized in public spaces across the country: Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-T.X.) and Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R-N.J.). Drawing on frameworks of historical memory and theories of reputational politics, we examine the public conversations that led to the memorialization of these women. We find motive, institutional power, and clarity of narrative in …

Food Councils And Federal Committees: Community Responses To Inaction On Food Insecurity By Government, Kevin O'Connell, Liam R. Rupprecht

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Food insecurity is a devastating force in the United States, as shown by its destructive impact on vulnerable groups like children, racial minorities, and those in poverty. Non-white urban communities of color especially have significantly higher rates of household food insecurity due to systemic racism in American food systems. Despite the prevalence of these factors, they are consistently overlooked by public and private forces. Federal efforts have failed to resolve the issue, leaving it to local “food council” organizations that attempt to help through advocacy and charity. These groups face a difficult task: how can they work to mitigate food …

Under The Guardianship: Experiences Of Mothers In Egypt’S El Nayaba El Hesbaya, Hana Khayry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersectional lived experience of El Nayaba El Hesbaya in Egypt. El Nayaba El Hesbaya, operating under Law 119/1952, is the administrative and judicial body responsible for overseeing the financial and legal affairs of minors whose father or mother had passed. Hundreds of thousands of mothers in Egypt have (had) children under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya. This research delves into the experience of mothers whose children are or were under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya, examining how it shape(s/d) their everyday life as women, mothers, widows or ex-wives, citizens, and legal subjects. …

Los Sistemas De Apoyo Para Personas Indígenas Con Discapacidad Como Garantía De Derechos Lingüísticos Y Justicia Epistémica En México, Antonio R. Uc Galera

Journal of Maya Heritage

La derogación formal de la figura de interdicción consagrada en los Códigos Civiles Sustantivos y la implementación de figuras jurídicas novedosas como sistemas de apoyo y personas, representa de los avances más trascendentes en materia de discapacidad. Su aplicación legislativa impacta a las personas de las Comunidades Indígenas con discapacidad como garantía de derechos sus lingüísticos, ya que estas nuevas figuras jurídicas en materia civil brindan herramientas de comunicación, apoyos cognitivos y de comprensión, incluyendo lectura fácil, implementación de traductores, instrumentos que apoyan la movilidad, entre otros, según las necesidades de la persona en particular. Este artículo propone un análisis …

Founding Mothers: The Nineteenth Amendment’S Place In Originalist Due Process Analysis, Tracy Turner

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

[INTRODUCTION] During a public speech in 1856, Sojourner Truth is described as stating: “I have had two husbands yet I never possessed one of my own. I have had five children and never could take any one of them up and say “my child” or “my children . . .” One of Truth’s two husbands was an older enslaved man, forced upon her for the purpose of providing new victims of slavery. The second husband may have been a man she considered to be her real husband but was never allowed to marry. By law, Truth’s children belonged entirely to …

Pesos For Pesos And No One Feels At Home: Gentrification And Displacement In Mexico City, Sophia L. Castellanos

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates how gentrification and displacement have affected Mexico City, providing historical context and reasoning behind current policies for digital nomads and tourists. It examines policies enacted in similar cities such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Venice, which face challenges from increased tourism and short-term rentals like Airbnb. The thesis also reviews these regulations, highlighting their successes and limitations, and offers recommendations for integrating some of these strategies into Mexico City’s 2024 Tourism Law. Additionally, it explores public innovation strategies that could promote collaborations between the government and communities rather than complete government control. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges …

Toward Interspecies Reproductive Justice, Asha A. Ramakumar

Animal Law Review

Reproductive justice discourse has largely overlooked non-human animals, despite the parallel forms of biopolitical control exercised over human women and female animals’ reproductive labor. By examining the shared logics underlying the subordina-tion of both human women and dairy cows, this Article argues that any genuine conception of reproductive justice must inter-rogate reproductive exploitation beyond the human experience. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s theory of biopower and Carol J. Adams’ framework of the “absent referent,” this Article elucidates how powerful institutions control those with the capacity for preg-nancy by perpetuating narratives of biological essentialism and obligation.

Part II examines several examples of …

T.H. V. The Czech Republic: A Step Forward Or Back For Lgbtq+ Rights And Discourse In Europe With The First Openly Non-Binary Applicant?, Katherine Olsson

Human Rights Brief

On December 9, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a final judgment in the case of T.H. v. The Czech Republic.  The case concerned a non-binary individual, T.H., who was assigned male at birth and, since May 2012, had repeatedly petitioned to change their sex/gender marker and personal numerical code on their national identity card.  Because the Czech system does not provide for the option of a neutral gender marker, T.H. petitioned to have their registered gender changed to female.

The Un-Bridged Pipeline: Leading And Preparing Women Of Color To Senior-Level Higher Education Administration, Jacqueline D. Slater

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite increased educational attainment among Black women, representation in senior‑level leadership positions within higher education remains limited. This qualitative study examines the experiences of Black women who serve or have served in senior‑level academic administrative roles and explores how those experiences inform guidance, preparation, and decision‑making for future Black women leaders. The study focuses on practical barriers, workplace realities, and strategies that shape leadership entry, advancement, and retention.

Using a descriptive case study design, five Black women with professional experience as presidents, provosts, vice provosts, and academic deans participated in semi‑structured interviews lasting 45 to 75 minutes. Purposeful sampling ensured …